Seven Days
by gretelbug
Summary: Lois once again disrupts Clark's quiet lifestyle by deciding to visit the Kent Farm. To the latter's horror, Lois will be staying there for a whole week. In 7 days time, the two get to know each other a little better...amidst constant and sometimes childi
1. Lois Arrives

Title: Seven Days

By: Me

Rating: All ages permitted.

Summary: Lois once again disrupts Clark's quiet lifestyle by deciding to visit the Kent Farm. To the latter's horror, Lois will be staying there for a whole week. In Seven days time, the two get to know each other a little better...amidst constant (and sometimes childish) quarrelling.

Distribution: Please do NOT post anywhere without my knowledge or consent.

Chapter 1 - Lois Arrives

Martha Kent stood stirring some soup in a pot over the stove. She was getting dinner ready in a bit of a hurry that day, because they were expecting one of their most frequent visitors -- the feisty Miss Lois Lane. She had called that morning and had asked if she could visit them for a while. To Jonathan and Martha, this was no problem. They were used to and loved having her around. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about Clark.

Martha smiled to herself as she remembered how easy Lois was able to get on Clark's nerves. If the two were left in a room together, one only had to count to ten before another petty argument would erupt. Though their yells and biting remarks towards each other gave Martha a slight headache once in a while, she didn't mind getting used to it.

What Martha liked most about Lois' visits, was the way she would conveniently drop in when Clark was at his dramatic worst. Lois was a good distraction when Clark was feeling blue or depressed over the feeling that he didn't belong anywhere. Lois' teases and sarcasm never gave him enough time to think about his problems. She was great therapy for Clark, Martha decided. Neither just knew how good they were for each other.

Still dwelling on these thoughts, Martha heard the familiar honk of a car horn resound from the yard. She looked outside to see Lois herself getting out of her car.

"Ohhh Clark, your best friend is here," Martha said, checking on the pie she had left in the oven. She knew Clark would hear her even though he was still in the shower. As expected, her son super speeded down the stairs and into the kitchen in about two seconds.

"Best friend my bu--"

"CLARK," Martha warned, turning around to look at him. Clark was stealthily peering through the curtains in the living room at Lois, who was in the middle of opening her trunk. A few seconds later, Jonathan came walking out of the barn, calling out a "Hello" to their guest. Shelby came running at his heels and leapt upon Lois, two paws on her stomach. "Hey Shelby!" Lois sneezed, cautiously patting the barking dog on his head. "Did you miss me?" She sneezed again.

"Go and help her with her luggage, Clark," Martha said, gently.

Clark turned to look at her, his face contorted with pain and dread. "Do I HAVE to?" Martha just raised her eyebrows at him. Looking as if he had just received his death sentence, Clark slowly opened the front door and walked out.

"...I'd help you with your bags, but I have to finish stacking up some hay before dinner..." Jonathan was saying, walking back into the barn. Shelby followed at his heels. Jonathan threw a meaningful glance towards Clark.

Lois smiled and waved at Jonathan. "It's all right, Mr. Kent, I'm sure I'll manage! Ain't that right, Smallville?" she asked, without turning around.

Clark stopped short on the steps. He swore that woman had eyes in the back of her head. "..How did you know I was--"

"I can smell your self-pity all the way from over here, Kent. Mind helping me with my luggage?" Lois finally turned around and graced Clark with one of her sparkling smiles.

Clark crouched his eyebrows and suddenly became inquiring. "Luggage? How long are you staying here?" he asked, walking down the front steps. He knew it was kind of late to ask, but his mom had forgotten to inform him. Oh please let it only be the night, he prayed.

"A week," Lois said, pulling out her purse from her car. Clark inwardly groaned and tried his best not to yell out a dramatic, "NOOOOOoooo..."

Lois put her hands to her hips, looking expectant. "Well? What are you waiting for?" Clark made a face and moved towards her trunk.

"ARGH! What do you have in here, Lois? A HIPPO?" Clark grunted, pulling out a large suitcase. It really wasn't that heavy (for a guy with super strength like him, of course), but he couldn't resist igniting another banter with Lois Lane. It had become like a sort of tradition for him. Lois would come and visit every month, and the first words that would escape from either one's mouths would be dripping with teasing sarcasm. Plus, it did him good to annoy her. Heck, she annoyed him enough as it is, so why couldn't he return the favor?

Lois, who was already walking towards the Kents' front door, called over her shoulder, "No, Smallville, that contains an elephant! The OTHER bag is the one with the hippo!"

Clark rolled his eyes as he took out the other two bags from the trunk. "What's in this one?" he shouted, indicating the blue duffel bag.

"A GIRAFFE!"

"Well,no wonder your luggage smells, you brought the whole zoo."

"HEY YOU WATCH THAT BIG MOUTH OF YOURS, KENT, OR I'LL--"

"Lois!"

Lois turned away from a smirking Clark and saw Martha standing with the door open, an amused expression on her face. "Mrs. Kent!" she said, finding herself enveloped in a pair of warm arms. "Thanks so much for having me over again."

Martha just smiled. "Oh honey, you're very welcome. Besides, it's always a JOY to have you around...Isn't that right, Clark?" she asked, calling out to her son. Clark was in the process of throwing two bags over his shoulders in a haphazard manner and taking the large suitcase in one hand.

"Yeah! BIG JOY!" he sarcastically agreed, attempting to take a step forwards.

Martha nodded in satisfaction. "Go ahead and make yourself at home, Lois. I just finished cooking dinner," she said, stepping back inside the house. She had expected Lois to follow her, but instead, Lois had turned back to Clark. Smiling knowingly, Martha let her be. It seemed that their guest had a few more words for her son.

"Hurry UP, Clarkness, we haven't got all day," Lois said, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Why don't you just go inside and leave me alone?" Clark growled. In reality, he wanted to stop pretending that the luggage was heavy, and to super speed towards his room -- Where Lois would be staying. AGAIN. Clark almost moaned out loud as he remembered that he would be sleeping on the couch for a whole week.

Lois laughed from the porch. "Nah, believe me, this is more fun than sniffing your mother's tasty food," she said. Clark glared at her as he fake-trudged across the front yard and heavily walked up the steps. Lois remained standing in front of the door, with that evil smile of hers. Clark cleared his throat and coughed a few times, but still, Lois didn't budge.

"LOIS!"

"WHAT!"

"MOVE!"

Suddenly, Martha's head appeared at the window. "Clark! Don't you ever address our guests in that way! Apologize," she said in a stern voice.

Clark's mouth fell open as Lois turned her face away to hide her giggles. "But MOM, she was--"

"NOW."

Clark, suitcase and duffel bags in hand, turned his eyes back to Lois, who was trying to look as hurt as possible. "AhshomolllyLos," he mumbled.

"Excuse me, what?" Lois asked, cupping her ear at him.

"I said 'I'm sorry, Lois.'"

"Hmm, didn't hear you, Smallville."

"I SAID I'M SORRY LOIS!"

"OKAY! YOU DON'T HAVE TO SHOUT!"

"WELL, YOU LEAVE ME NO CHOICE, DO YOU!"

"YOU'RE SHOUTING AGAIN!"

"FINE! I'M SORRY!"

"FINE!"

"Fine."

"Fine."

They stood there for a few moments, just staring at each other heatedly. They didn't notice Martha walking away from the window and breaking into peals of laughter in the living room. She then proceeded into the kitchen, and out the back door to see if Jonathan had come back yet, shaking her head and smiling to herself.

After probably a minute, Clark cleared his throat again. "So are you going to let me in, or not?"

Lois up looked at the roof and seemed to think seriously about his question. "Hmm, let me think about that for a moment..."

"LOIS."

Lois laughed and stepped inside, leaving the door open for him. "Thanks," Clark mumbled, taking a step forwards. Before he knew it, however, he found himself stuck and unable to move. It seemed that Lois' large duffel bags were preventing him from going any further. "Uhhh...Lois?"

"What NOW, Clark?" Lois said, sounding exasperated. She turned around and found the situation farm boy was in. Her eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Er...help?" Clark said, trying to pull himself from the door frame.

Lois walked towards him and inspected the situation. "Well, well, Smallville, looks like you're stuck," she observed, a hand to her chin.

"When you're done stating the obvious...," Clark said, rolling his eyes. "Here, just take this suitcase and I'll try letting go of the duffel bags, all right?"

Lois readily obeyed, taking her large suitcase from Clark's hands, and dragging it into the hallway. She then watched as Clark tried taking off one of her duffel bags from his shoulder. Unfortunately, it had gotten tangled with the OTHER duffle bag's strap. Poor Clark didn't know what to do. "Ugh! Lois, why'd you have to bring so many stuff?" he asked, stamping a foot in annoyance.

"Oh, so it's MY fault that you're stuck and can't get out?" Lois asked, pointing to herself.

"Technically...yeah!" Clark replied.

Lois rolled her eyes and walked over to him. To Clark's surprise she took hold of one of the straps and proceeded to untangle it.

"What...are you doing," Clark suddenly asked, a little dazed by her perfume. He found himself a bit nervous by her closeness. He heard Lois snort in reply.

"Are you blind, Kent? I'm trying to help you out of this mess, that's what! After all," she said, suddenly looking up as she worked with the straps, "..I caused this, didn't I?" Clark couldn't help noticing that her nose was about two inches away from his. Lois grinned at him and turned her attention back to the duffle bags.

"There we go," she said after a while. Clark pushed the bag to his back so that his body would have enough space to get in the door. After trying another time, though, he still found difficulty. "Geez,Clark! Here, I'll help you!" Lois, looking annoyed, wrapped her arms around Clark's chest and pulled with all her might. "PULL!" she yelled.

"Lois, I think there's a much more better way of doing this--" Clark started. After all, he didn't want to end up tearing the straps off her bags, not to mention break the doorframe.

"Yeah, well, right now, this is the only way i can think of! Now pull!"

Meanwhile..Outside..

Martha waved as Jonathan walked into the backyard, dusting his hands. "Honey, dinner's ready. Lois and Clark are in the--"

"DAMMIT, PULL, KENT!" Lois' voice came ringing into the backyard. Jonathan looked at Martha, an eyebrow raised.

"I AM PULLING!" They heard Clark yell.

"WELL PULL HARDER! YES! COME ON BIG BOY YOU CAN DO IT, PULL!"

"ARRGHHHHH!"

Martha looked petrified. "Jonathan..what are they doing?" she asked, worried.

Jonathan started walking towards the back door of the house. "I don't know, sweetheart, but I think that we'd better find out," he said, his wife on his heels. "CLARK!" he called.

- KITCHEN -

Lois grunted one last time, and finally, Clark (bags and all) popped through the doorway and they tumbled into the hallway. This sudden release brought him stumbling into Lois, who still had her arms around his torso. Lois shrieked as they both fell, bags and all, down onto the floor.

Lois groaned and rolled over Clark, rubbing her head, which had previously hit the floor. That was going to leave a mark. Suddenly she realized that she was on top of farm boy, and pushed herself up to get off. Before she could, however, she was distracted.

"Hey, Clark. I've been meaning to ask you," she said, pressing her hands against his chest. "Do you work out?"

Clark blushed pink and stuttered, "Uh...no."

"HOLY WOW IS THIS A SIX PACK!" Lois asked again, this time feeling his abdomen. By now, she was straddling him.

"Come on, Lois, it's not like you haven't seen them before," Clark said, turning a darker shade of red at the memory. Or rather, MEMORIES.

"Yes, Smallville, but I've never felt them before. For all i know, they could've been fake. ("How can muscles..be FAKE?" Clark butted in) Shut up and stop lying, Kent. How can you get abs this SOLID without lifting some weights?"

Clark, who was getting increasingly uncomfortable in the awkward position they were in, and infinitely more embarrassed at the way Lois was touching him, cleared his throat loudly. "Uhmm, it must be the work i do around the farm, it builds up my mus--hey, why are we even having this conversation!"

"That's what we were wondering ourselves."

Lois turned around from her seat on Clark's chest and found Jonathan and Martha standing there, questioning looks on their faces. They seemed to be sizing up the situation. Lois quickly got off of Clark and held out a hand to help him up.

Clark closed his eyes and breathed in and out before speaking. "Mom. Dad. I got stuck in the doorway and Lois was helping me get in, but we ended up falling and--"

"I got kind of sidetracked by your son's exceptional pecks and biceps," Lois finished for him, in a nonchalant manner. Everyone stared at her, their eyebrows either crouched or raised. "What?...It's a compliment!" she said, gesturing her arms in emphasis.

Jonathan just smiled, and Martha started laughing. "I love it when you visit, sweetie. Less than ten minutes after you arrive and already something exciting has happened. Clark, take her bags upstairs and then wash up for dinner. You too, Jonathan," Martha said. Jonathan obeyed, walking over to the sink.

"I think I'll help poor Clarkie over here," Lois said, pulling the duffle bags which had caused so much trouble from Clark's shoulders. She hoisted them onto her own and glanced at the puzzled boy standing there. "YOU can have the suitcase," she said, walking out of the room, into the hallway, and up the stairs.

Clark let out a heavy sigh as soon as she was gone. He couldn't resist giving an embarrassed smile as his mother continued to laugh. "Mom..." he said, rolling his eyes. "It's not funny."

Martha smiled and began setting the table. "For you it isn't! Your father and I walked in here and thought you were..." Suddenly, she stopped, and stole a glance at Jonathan.

"..Thought we were what?" Clark asked, suddenly interested.

Jonathan sighed. "She was sitting on you, Clark," he quipped, wiping his hands and looking at his son.

Clark paused for a second, looked at Martha, and then back to Jonathan. "What, you thought that we were.." Realization dawned upon him. "...UGH! EW! IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS GROSS AND WRONG!" he said, looking revolted at the very idea. Martha started laughing again, and this time, Jonathan joined her.

Lois entered the kitchen and was puzzled to find the Kents in the midst of hysterical laughter, and Clark with a disgusted look on his face. "What's so funny?" she grinned, although confused.

"LOIS!" Clark gave a start, and his parents stopped laughing.

"Hey Clark," Lois said, taking a seat. "I see you still haven't started on that suitcase. Is it really too heavy? I can help you bring it up the st--"

"NO!" The three Kents yelled. Lois looked taken aback at the volume of their voices. Clark was the first to recover. "Uh...I mean, no you don't have to do that. I can handle it, I was just telling my parents a uh...a...a knock-knock joke," he lied, looking nervous.

"Oh!" Lois folded her hands on the table and smiled. She looked up at him expectantly. "Well,let's hear it, then!"

Clark glanced at his parents hesitantly and shuffled his feet. Crap. He didn't even KNOW any knock-knock jokes. What the heck was he gonna do now?

"Come on, Clark, I'm waiting," Lois said, tapping her fingers loudly on the table.

Clark saw that his parents had stopped whatever they were doing to hear what he had to say. He sighed. Here goes nothing. "Uh...Knock, knock."

Lois smiled. "Who's there?"

"Uhmm...Clark..."

Lois raised an eyebrow. "..Clark Who..?"

"...Er...panicking...Clark Kent?" Clark said, a little confused. In about a second, his parents were laughing again. Clark shrugged at them.

Lois smiled, but looked puzzled all the same. "Boy, you guys suuure get entertained easily around here, don't you?" she asked, nodding her head with a weirded out look on her face. The provincial life was probably getting to them, she thought.

Clark opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, and closed his mouth again. "I'm going to take the suitcase upstairs," he said, without looking at Lois. He took the suitcase by its handle and strode out of the room purposefully, feeling baffled. Every second he spent with Lois Lane was so confusing. It was too much for a boy his age.

- DINNER TIME -

The kitchen was filled with lively chatter, as the women began cleaning up. Martha was washing the dishes, and Lois was helping her dry them. They were talking about Lois' plans to take up journalism as a major in college. Clark and Jonathan were outside locking the barn and all that farm jazz. When they got inside, the ladies had just finished the dishes and were wiping the table.

"Well, I think I'll head on up for my shower. You kids go ahead and stay up all night if you want. After all, it is Friday. Just remember to get ready for bed first. One of you might end up falling asleep during one of your movies," Jonathan said. After saying good-night to Lois, he went upstairs to take his shower. Soon after, Martha followed him.

"What were you thinking?" Martha said, as soon as she had gotten into their bedroom. "You know what happens when we leave those two alone together!"

Jonathan laughed from the bathroom. "Oh, stop worrying honey," he called.

Martha, however, was not satisfied. "Jonathan," she said very seriously, "They'll kill each other."

"Martha, I hardly think that Clark is capable of murder."

"You know what I mean!"

Jonathan walked out in his robe, an amused expression on his face. "Honey, come on. It'll be all right. Besides, Clark needs to get used to the fact that Lois isn't going to just stop dropping in to see us. It's normal for them to argue, " he thought about it for a moment, "In fact, if they DIDN'T argue, I'd think something was up."

Martha sighed. "You're right. It's just--"

"DON'T WORRY. Everything will be just fine. Really, how hard can watching movies until midnight be?" Jonathan asked.

- LIVING ROOM -

"Clark, will you stop being such an IDIOT and just PUT THE VIDEO IN!"

"sigh But I don't want to watch Pearl Harbor."

"It's either THAT or TITANIC, kid, so make your choice."

"And since when did i have to listen to you?"

"Since the moment i ARRIVED! NOW PUT. THE VIDEO. IN."

"NO."

"OH MY GOOOOOOOOSH, CLARK! FINE! What do YOU want to watch?"

Lois sat down on the couch and crossed her arms. Having changed into their pajamas, she and Clark had just returned from the kitchen with some popcorn and soda. They were currently in the middle of choosing a movie to watch. As usual, something as simple as that had turned into war.

Clark smiled to himself, rummaged around a drawer, and held up the videocassette of his choice.

"FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS! Are you inSANE? That's as boring as heck!" Lois exclaimed in protest.

"It is NOT boring!" Clark turned the video tape in his hands and started reading, "Ebert and Roeper give it two--"

"Who cares about Ebert and Roeper? TITANIC WON THE MOST ACADEMY AWARDS EVAAAR!"

"Uh, excuse me. I believe LORD OF THE RINGS won the most Academy--"

"TITANIC."

"LORD OF THE RINGS."

Lois rolled her eyes. "Oh, so you want to watch the Lord of the Rings now!"

"I didn't say that! I'm just telling you that it was the Lord of the Rings that won--"

"Fine, so let's watch Lord of the Rings."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Clark took out the LOTR trilogy and chose The Fellowship of the Ring. He was just about to put it into the VCR, when Lois shrieked.

"WAIT! Which one is that?" she asked importantly.

"The Fellowship of the--"

"Ew, change it, that one's as boring as heck."

"Lois. EVERYTHING to you is as boring as heck."

"IS NOT!"

"Oh, IS TOO!"

"CHANGE IT!"

"OKAY!"

Clark grumbled to himself as he took out The Two Towers and popped it into the VCR. God, that woman was so demanding. And the fact that he almost always succumbed to her will left Clark clueless. Why DID he always have to bend to her will? He decided to ask her.

"Hey, Lois?"

"What."

"Why do i always have to bend to your will?"

"Cuz I'm older, smarter, hotter, and oh yeah. I'm your guest," Lois grinned, putting a handful of popcorn into her mouth. She stretched her legs over Clark's lap (Great, now I'm her FOOTSTOOL Clark thought) and turned the volume up some more. "Now hush, i like this part where Orlando Bloom runs over the hill in all his elfin glory."

"His name is LEGOLAS, Lois."

"Whatever."

They sat there for a whole hour, Lois making funny observations, and Clark rolling his eyes for the majority of the time that his eyeballs started to ache. Like all LOTR movies, this one took incredibly long. But before Clark knew it, the credits were rolling. He half expected Lois to speak out and say, "Well, that sucked" or something like, "Titanic would have been way better", but she didn't. Curious, he turned to look at her. Lois Lane had fallen asleep. She had somehow curled herself into a ball without Clark noticing it, one hand tucked beneath her cheek, and her other arm wrapped around the popcorn bowl. Clark took the time to watch her sleep. He noticed with a smile that she was, for once, incredibly quiet.

Clark sighed, reached for the remote, and turned the TV off. He then proceeded to take the popcorn bowl away from Lois' hands. Then, slowly, gently, he easily picked her up in his strong arms and walked towards the stairs. The steps creaked slightly as Clark made his way up the stairs and headed for his room. He carefully deposited Lois onto the bed and pulled the covers over her. She looked so different when she had her eyes closed. Almost vulnerable. And pretty he unconsciously added. What? Clark mentally slapped himself. Did i just call Lois pretty! Shaking his head, and heading for his door, Clark whispered a silent good-night to the woman laying in his bed. Lois replied with a light snore.

Then, he quickly brushed his teeth, and headed downstairs with some pillows and a blanket. Clark sighed as he settled himself into the couch. He was just closing his eyes, when he sniffed. What was that? It smelled like...flowers. Clark pressed his nose against the couch. Suddenly, he realized that he was sniffing the place where Lois had leaned her back against. Ugh! What am i doing! He quickly refrained from sniffing any further and put a pillow over his head.


	2. Day 1

Chapter 2 - Day 1

- NEXT MORNING -

Lois opened her eyes sleepily. Sunlight got into her eyes, and she squinted. Where was she and how did she get there? Lois got up and yawned, stretching out her arms. Of course! She was in Clark's room. "Funny.." she said to herself. "I don't remember getting here..." Maybe i got drunk she thought with a shrug, but crossed that out as a possibility. There was no way she had drunk any liquor the other evening. Clark would have murdered her if she had brought any strong stuff. Lois put on her robe and smiled as Clark came to mind. That boy was so uptight. Someone needed to loosen his strings, and she felt that it was her duty to do just that.

"Morning, Mrs. Kent!" Lois cheerfully called out, getting down the stairs in record time. She plopped down on a seat at the kitchen table and grinned angelically.

Martha turned around from the sink and smiled at her. "Lois! You're up early, sweetie. I didn't expect you to come down until at least eleven," she said, wiping her hands. She then took her frying pan and put some bacon and eggs onto Lois' plate.

"Now who gave you that idea?" Lois asked, taking a fork and thanking Martha.

"Clark. He said to expect you to come down after lunchtime, but I knew he was exaggerating," Martha replied, sitting down herself to a plate of breakfast.

Lois laughed. "Well, I wanted an early start today, because I was thinking of dropping by to see Chloe," she said. Suddenly, she noticed that it was only her and Martha eating breakfast. "Are the guys still asleep?"

Martha shook her head as she drank some juice. "No, sweetie. They ate an early breakfast and drove down to tend to the livestock," she said.

Lois nodded her head and shrugged. "Ah, too bad. I was thinking of bringing Clark along with me to Chloe's. Oh well, just please tell him to join us after his chores are finished," she said, biting into a piece of bacon. Suddenly, she got an idea. "Umm..Mrs. Kent?"

"Hmm?"

"Does Clark have any plans for this whole week?"

Martha looked up from her plate. "No, nothing that I know of. A water pipe burst overnight at his school, and they've closed down for repairs. They said it'll take over a week for them to get things back in order," she replied.

Lois brightened. "So Chloe doesn't have school either?"

"Nope. You know, it's odd about the timing of your visit. Now, you'll be able to have a good time with your friends here in Smallville," Martha said, smiling.

"What can I say?" Lois said, grinning, "It's fate." Martha smiled back at her.

"So, Mrs. Kent.." Lois began again. "What exactly will Clark's farm chores be now that he has no school?" she innocently asked, biting into some bacon.

"Well, first he has to help milk the cows, then bale some fresh hay, and then get rid of the cow manure...After that, he'll probably help his father feed the livestock...and if any of the fences are broken, he'll fix it..and then.." Martha went on and on with the number of chores Clark had to do before lunch.

"Wow, how does he get all of that done so fast?" Lois asked, curious. Was it her imagination, or did Martha suddenly look nervous?

"Oh...Experience I guess. He WAS brought up on this farm," Martha replied, not missing a beat. Lois just nodded.

They finished their breakfast, talking about random things. Afterwards, Lois helped Martha clean up. They were just finishing stacking up the dishes, when Martha suddenly said, "You know, I'm glad you came, Lois."

Lois smiled. "Really?" she asked.

Martha sighed and sat down. "Yes. I was so worried when I found out Clark would be having a whole week entirely to himself. It isn't good for him to be alone," she said.

"About that, " Lois said, taking a seat in front of Martha. "He DOES seem a bit..i don't know..Reserved?"

Martha chuckled, "Yes, I know. He likes keeping to himself, but that usually gets him depressed over...you know..."

"Over what?"

"Well, his unsuccessful love life among other things," Martha replied, making sure not to reveal everything.

"He acts like he's forty when he's only eighteen."

She looked so worried just then that Lois took pity. This woman had been so kind to her, almost like a mother. Lois decided to do her a favor. "Don't worry, Mrs. Kent," she said, "I'll make sure to keep him busy the whole time I'll be staying here."

Martha looked up and smiled a little. "Is that a promise?" she asked.

"Definitely."

THREE HOURS LATER

Chloe's Apartment

"Why didn't you call me last night? I was waiting!" Chloe asked, as soon as they were done eating their lunch.

Lois just rolled her eyes as they sat on the couch. "Oh, sorry about that. Smallville and I were too busy bickering over every possible thing we could think of, so I kinda forgot," she replied.

Chloe laughed. "Oh come on, you don't mean EVERY possible thing," she said, nudging Lois with her shoulder. "Clark isn't that bad."

"Oh, you'd be surprised!" Lois said, as they both sat down on a couch. "The dork wanted to eat PLAIN popcorn. Said it was much healthier and crap. I on the other hand, wanted butter. HE tells me it's fattening. And then I asked him if he was trying to imply that I was FAT. And then he gave me that sad, 'I'm sorry I didn't mean it that way' look and tries explaining, but it took too long, so i just told him to forget about it."

Chloe stared at her. "...So who won?"

"Me, of course!" Lois exclaimed.

Chloe rolled her eyes and began flipping through a magazine on the coffee table. "Don't tell me you guys fought over what soda to drink as well," she said, jokingly.

"As a matter of fact, we did," Lois said. Her cousin stopped flipping through magazines and raised an eyebrow at her. "Farm boy wanted Pepsi, and I wanted coke," Lois explained, "He said Coca-Cola was too sweet, and I said Pepsi was too bland. We ended up compromising and drank our respective soda's."

"Oh, welll..." Chloe didn't know what to say. "I'm sure you guys didn't argue over which Friday night movie to watch, did you?...I mean...you're too mature for that," she said.

Lois blinked. "Well, actually--"

"Oh my GOSH, Lois, do you two fight over EVERYTHING!"

"Not everything," a deep, boyish voice spoke from behind them.

Chloe and Lois turned around to find Clark standing in the doorway, his hands in his pockets. He wore a smug look on his face and was looking tauntingly in Lois' direction.

"How long have you been standing there, Kent?" Lois asked, crossing her arms.

Clark shrugged and started walking towards them. "Long enough to hear everything," he said. Lois growled and "humph!"ed, getting up to look around the kitchen. "You COULD have knocked," she said, opening the fridge.

"You two left the door a bit open," Clark explained, gesturing towards the door.

"It's closed, Clark," Lois said.

"That's because I closed it. It was OPEN before I closed it."

"And how do we know you're not lying?"

"LOIS!" Chloe muttered under her breath in a warning tone. "It's no big deal, he's been here a hundred times. Seriously, can't you two just get along for five minutes?" she asked, exasperated.

"No," Clark and Lois replied very seriously. Chloe made a noise indicating that she was frustrated, and crossed her arms with a pout on her face. Switching on the tv, she started watching a commercial, making a point that she wasn't going to speak to either of them unless they behaved.

"Awww, Chloe, come on, don't be mad," Lois begged, sitting next to her cousin. Chloe just gave her a look. "Okay, fine! We'll..TRY to play nice...Won't we, Clarkie?" she said, turning to look at Clark.

Clark shrugged and said, "Okay, i guess."

Lois smiled and cleared her throat. "See, Chloe? We'll be nice from now on. Just for you," she said reassuringly. Chloe, however, didn't look so convinced.

"Prove it," the blonde said. "I bet you guys can't even STAY nice to each other for a full ten minutes," she added.

But Lois was already shaking her head and getting up. "See, that's where you're wrong, cousin. Me and Clark?" She swung an arm around Clark's shoulders. "We're best friends! Right?...Clarkie?" she said, looking up into Clark's face.

Clark, who had gone rigid with Lois' arm around him, just stared at her and said, "Stop calling me Clarkie."

"Listen, you," Lois hissed in a low whisper. She pulled on Clark's jacket and looked hard into his eyes. "If we don't play nice for ten minutes, Chloe might never speak to us again. Do you want that?"

"Fine. But just ten minutes," Clark grumbled. Lois let go of him, and they both turned smiling faces to Chloe, who was still sitting on the couch, looking suspicious.

Lois cleared her throat and put on a huge smile. "WELL! Why don't we go and sit next to Chloe on the couch and watch commercials with her, CLARK?" she said.

"That is such a good idea, Lois. Let's go!" Clark said, rather too enthusiastically. They both plopped down on the couch on either side of Chloe.

"SO, Clark," Lois began. "How's life? How's your education?"

"Oh, things are going just SWELL, Lois! You know a water pipe burst at school, and I have no classes for a whole week..." Ohhhh crap, Clark suddenly said, as he realized what this meant. He'd be spending time with Lois, FULL-TIME. He looked up and hurriedly finished his sentence, "..Of course..I still have to do some homework the teachers assigned to us..and then do some extra reading, because it'll be difficult to catch up.."

"Clark, you work too hard! But you know what, that's good. At least you're not WAY behind like I am."

"What are you talking about? You're NEVER behind. In fact, you've got such good studying skills! That's what I admire most about you," Clark said, trying to prevent himself from gagging. He checked the clock. Was it ten minutes yet?

Lois laughed a little too loudly, "Oh, Kent, you simple FARM BOY, you're too NICE to me!"

"No, no, Lois, you NOSEY PERSON, it is YOU who are too nice to ME."

Lois put on a bland smile. "I'm thirsty. I'm going to go get some drinks," she said, getting up and walking into the kitchen.

"Let me help you!" Clark said, following her. Once they were safely out of earshot, he hissed into Lois' ear, "SIMPLE FARM BOY?"

"NOSEY PERSON? You need some help with your NAME-CALLING, Smallville!"

"What, I couldn't think of anything else to call you! And you ARE nosey, you know!"

"How dare you--"

"What's going on there?" Chloe's voice interrupted their heated whispers.

The pair smiled and walked back to the couch, carrying a few cans of soda with them. "Nothing, Chlo! Just getting some soda," Lois said, plopping back down beside her. They were all silent for a few minutes, sipping from their soda cans and eating some chips.

Suddenly, a commercial for State Farm insurance came on, and, as if by reflex, Lois suddenly spoke out loud, "Hey, Clark. Is that..YOUR insurance?" Suddenly, she realized what she was doing. "I mean, it SHOULD be. It fits just right with your uh..farming abilities and all," she finished nicely. Chloe gave her a look that seemed to say, "Smooth..." Lois glared at her. "By the way, Clark, I love your shirt," she added.

Chloe and Clark turned their heads to look at her. "You like his shirt?" Chloe asked, pointing to Clark. "Since when did you like Clark's SHIRTS?"

Lois crossed her arms. "Since now. You see, I used to think plaid was drab and unstylish...plain and unattractive. Something only dorks would wear...("We get the point," Clark butted in)..But you know what, Clark here has helped me see the error of my ways. When I saw how well he carried the whole plaid look, my eyes were opened. I once was blind, but now I see. Plaid is the BOMB!" she finished, smiling brightly.

Clark bit his lower lip to keep from smiling. He could get used to this "nice" stuff. "Why, uh..thanks, Lois. I like your shirt, too," Clark replied without thinking.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lois suddenly asked, a dangerous tone in her voice. Her eyes had suddenly narrowed.

Clark held up his hands in defense. "What? I really do like your shirt!"

"Please explain."

Ugh, this was torture, Clark thought. "..It's er...very nice and..it does a good job of showing your figure." He almost threw up right there.

Lois raised an eyebrow and looked down at her low-cut blouse. "Uh, thanks," she said. Seeing the incredulous look Chloe was giving Clark, she said (a naughty glint in her eye), "By the way, Kent I adore your body. It's everything masculine should be. You've got a GREAT, rock-hard chest, as well. I bet you've got better man-boobs than Tarzan."

"Uh...thanks, Lois. I think yours are...just...spiffy," Clark said, forcing himself to keep his eyes to the wall.

"Aww! Thanks, Clark. You know, I grew them myself," Lois said, looking down and smiling as if she got these kind of compliments every day.

"I'm so very proud of you."

"OKAY, OKAY, WHAT THE HECK!" Chloe suddenly stood up, waving her hands around. "What's wrong with you two!" she almost yelled.

Lois and Clark stared at her. "What? We're just being nice," Lois stated. "Yeah," Clark echoed. "Nice." br 

"Yeah, I kind of NOTICED that. You know what, forget it. You can stop being nice. It's too scary and weird for me to handle," Chloe said, shaking her head.

Lois raised her eyebrows. "THIS coming from the creator of the 'Wall of Weird'? Gosh, Kent, we must be really good," she said, winking in his direction.

Clark smiled. "So we have your permission to be ourselves, Chloe?" he asked.

"I'd kill you if you didn't," Chloe said, grinning.

Lois and Clark heaved out sighs of relief. "I didn't mean ANY of that, by the way," Clark said, waving his hands.

"Suuuure you didn't," Lois said, smiling slyly.

Clark blushed. "Hey, what are you--"

"I didn't mean any of the stuff i said too," Lois said, interrupting him, "Especially the plaid part. Really, Smallville, you need to freshen up your wardrobe. You can't keep looking like a picnic blanket every time i see you."

"Yeah...thanks, Lois. And about YOUR shirts--"

"HEEEEEEEY, WHO WANTS TO PLAY SOME OF DAD'S VIDEO GAMES?" Chloe boomed, getting up from the couch and plugging her father's play station into the TV. Although it was nice having Lois and Clark fighting again, she couldn't have them arguing the whole time they were with her. It got kind of old.

"Great idea!" Lois replied, getting up and looking through Chloe's video games. "Gosh, Chloe," she said, holding up some football game, "I didn't know you were into this kind of stuff."

Chloe waved a hand in reply, saying, "Nah, that's not mine. It's Dad's."

Clark got up and grabbed the game from Lois' hands. "Well Mr. Sullivan has great taste. I think we should play this one," he said, reading the back of the cover.

But Lois was already shaking her head. She held up another cd and stuck it into his face. 'Dance Dance Revolution,' Clark read. Hell no, he thought.

"But Clark. I want to play THIS one," Lois drawled, waving DDR in his face.

Clark glowered back at her. "FOOTBALL is a better game, Lois," he said. "It helps you build up your strategic skills, and it gives you an idea of what moves to make when you're out on the field. It can also--"

"--give you lumps of cellulite by just sitting there on the couch for four whole hours, letting your thumbs do all the work," Lois finished for him. She grabbed the football game from his hands and tossed it away. "THIS, on the other hand, will really give you a good and thorough work out. It even shows you some great dance moves," she explained.

Clark groaned. "Lois..." he began, but then his gaze shifted to Chloe, who was looking pleadingly at him. He sighed. "Oh all right. Let's play...Dance Dance..Revolution," he finished, wincing. Man, was he going to kill her when they got home.

Lois squealed and asked Chloe to bring out the DDR mat. After everything was plugged in, they started choosing what song to dance to. "Clark, you go first," Lois finally said, picking out 'Boom Boom Dollar.'

Clark stared at her, horrified. "WHAT."

"You heard me! Now get out there and show us some moves," Lois said, pulling Clark off the couch and shoving him onto the dance mat.

Chloe started laughing at the puzzled look on Clark's face. "Come on, Clark! You guys are spending the rest of your afternoon here anyway, so shake yo thang!" she said, clapping her hands.

"How do you even PLAY this game?" Clark asked, staring at the television. Music was blaring out of the speakers, and a bunch of bright lights and dancing figures covered the screen. It made him kind of dizzy and confused.

Lois groaned. "The ARROWS, Clark, the ARROWS! Gosh, you are so SLOW!" she said, getting up and hurriedly showing Clark what he was supposed to do.

Clark finally got it and tried following the game, cautiously stepping on the arrows printed on the mat. He was a really interesting sight, as he shuffled his feet and almost tripped all over the place. Lois rolled her eyes in frustration, and Chloe shoved a fist up her mouth, trying to stop her uncontrolled laughter.

"You're not HELPING, Chloe!" Clark said, suddenly turning around and facing his friend.

But Chloe and Lois were pointing at the screen. "Clark!" Lois said. "Don't stop, it's getting faster! Move it!"

"Huh?" Clark asked, focusing on the TV screen. Sure enough, the beat was picking up and the arrows were scrolling down really fast. Clark tried going along with the speed, but all he got was "BOO!" or "NOT GOOD ENOUGH" or "POOR."

Clark, finally ticked at the bad reviews he was getting, stopped and said, "Oh, so THAT'S how it is." He then gritted his teeth, focused on the arrows, and willed himself to move accordingly. "I'll show you who's boss," he said, stamping his foot on the front arrow.

"Yeaaaaah, Clark!" Chloe clapped her hands. "You can do it!"

"GO KENT!" Lois laughed, waving her arms around.

An hour (yes, an HOUR) later...

Lois and Chloe stared, watching Clark stamp his feet on the mat, grunting and mumbling to himself. It seemed that he had been really pissed off by the low scores he got (he actually took them very seriously), and had demanded a "rematch". "Put it on HARD!" he had ordered. So now, there he was, dancing the night away. It was kind of weird though, because it didn't look like dancing at all. In fact, it looked like he was squashing a bunch of bugs with his feet in a systematic way.

"...Do you think we should stop him?" Chloe whispered to Lois, looking scared and sounding worried. She eyed the mat Clark was "dancing" on and imagined it getting destroyed in a few minutes time.

"Uhm...nah...Let's just..wait it out," Lois whispered back, but looking kind of worried herself.

The dance finally ended and Clark punched a fist into the air as a really high score appeared on the screen. "HA! YES! THAT is what Clark Kent is MADE OF!" He was just about to press the "Okay" button (the game had asked if he wanted to try a higher level), when Lois and Chloe came up behind him and took hold of his arms.

"Oooookay, Smallville, I think you better calm down," Lois said, pushing him onto the couch.

"NEVER stop a man on fire, Lois," Clark replied, panting. Drops of sweat were forming on his forehead. He tried getting up again, but Lois pushed him back down.

"You know you're really good at this dancing stuff, Clark, but I think you better stop before you kill the mat," Lois explained, gesturing to the dance mat Chloe was beginning to fold. It looked a bit flatter than it was before.

Chloe was laughing. "I'll just tell Dad that Clark got a bit carried away," she said, stuffing the flattened mat back into its box. Then she got up and looked at Lois. "Nooow...How about some karaoke?"

Hours Later

"UH UH OHHHH GO TOTALLY CRAZY! FORGET I'M A LADY! MEN'S SHIRTS SHORT SKIRTS, UH UH OHHHH.."

Clark sat on the couch, totally bored, as Chloe and Lois screeched "Man I Feel Like A Woman" into their lil' microphones. They must have sung that song at least ten times, he thought to himself. The song was getting stuck in his head, and Clark knew that wasn't a good sign.

"...Color my hair, do what I dare..uh uh oh.." The girls sang, "I wanna be free and feel the way I FEEL! MAN--" They stuck their microphones into Clark's face. "I feel like a woman," he dully finished for them.

"Didn't hear you, Clark!" Lois yelled, her microphone still in Clark's face.

"I FEEL LIKE A WOMAN!" Clark shouted. Then he settled back down, his head in his hands, mumbling, "That sounded SO wrong..."

Lois and Chloe broke into peals of laughter and whooped as the song ended. "Okay, okay. I think that's enough, ladies," Clark said, trying to grab the microphones from them.

Lois danced out from his reach, however, as Chloe picked another song. "Fat chance, farm boy! You had us sitting for eternity with your stick-figure-like dance moves earlier! This is PAYBACK," Lois said.

Clark rolled his eyes and checked his watch. "Guys, come on. We have to get home, it's almost dinner time," he said, as the tune to another song began playing.

"Come one Clark, just one more song!" Chloe said, dancing to the beat.

Clark looked at her seriously. "Chloe, it's six o'clock. Besides, your dad will be home any minute, " he pointed out. He started to get up.

"Awww..." the girls complained. "Oh,well, that's okay. We're going to camp out in Clark's back yard on Tuesday, anyway," Lois said, hugging Chloe.

"We are?" Both Chloe and Clark asked, looking surprised.

"Yeah!" Lois said, flipping her hair. "Since there's no school this week, I thought we'd do some crazy outdoor stuff," she said.

"Uhhh...Do my parents know about this?" Clark asked, looking skeptical.

Lois shook her head. "Nope. But they will! Now, let's go, CLARKIE. You don't want to be late for church tomorrow, do ya?" she asked, grabbing Clark's arm and leading him out the door. "Bye, see you on Tuesday, Chloe!" she yelled over her shoulder.

"Bye!" they heard Chloe call back. The door shut firmly behind them.

As they walked outside, Clark watched Lois look around quickly. "What is it?" he asked. There was nothing weird going on that he could see.

"Where's your truck?" Lois asked, looking up at him.

"Umm.." Crap. Why was he so stupid as to super speed to Chloe's place? He should have thought of this! "I didn't bring a truck," he said.

Lois raised her eyebrows. "Obviously...So how'd you get here?" she asked, curious.

"My dad dropped me off," Clark quickly lied. He hated lying to Lois, but this was for the good of mankind.

Lois nodded her head and started walking towards her car, gesturing for Clark to follow her. "Oh okay," she said, "For a minute i thought you walked all the way out here."

Clark coughed and got into the car. "He he. Me? Walk out HERE?" he asked, fake chuckling.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Lois replied, backing out of the parking lot.

As they drove home in silence, Clark found himself unconsciously humming to the song Lois and Chloe had been singing earlier.

"You know, I have the CD if you want to listen to it," Lois said, grinning.

Clark stopped humming and groaned. "No thanks," he said.

A few more minutes of silence passed between the two, when Lois suddenly asked, "So how was the movie last night?"

"It was great."

"Sure. You didn't look like you were having much fun."

"If hearing you yell out 'BARBECUE!' when Faramir's father lit up that pile of wood where he was trying to kill himself is your idea of fun...," Clark began, shaking his head, and looking out the window.

"Whaaat? Come on, I was hungry during that scene!"

"And you wouldn't stop swooning every time Legolas came onscreen either."

"Oh, come on Clark. You were practically drooling each time Liv appeared."

"Her name is ARWEN, Lois, and I DID NOT DROOL."

"Come on admit it. You think she's hot, don't ya?"

"No, I don't."

"How about Viggo?"

"What ABOUT him?"

"Think HE's hot?"

"What -- NO!"

Lois chuckled to herself as Clark turned away from her, annoyed. She absolutely loved getting under his skin. He was always so easy to irritate. "By the way," she said, "Did you carry me upstairs last night?"

"Yes."

"Was I snoring?" Lois asked, trying to keep their conversation flowing until they got home. Clark was being too darn quiet for her taste.

"Like a donkey," came the reply.

"Donkeys SNORE?"

"Well you sounded a lot like one last night, so yeah, I guess they do!"

"Whatever, Clark. I do NOT sound like a donkey."

"Well next time I'll be sure to make a video of you. THEN you'll see."


	3. Days 2 & 3

Chapter 3 - Day's 2 and 3

"...He's rolling over...He's...scratching his head...He's rolled over again.." Lois sat in front of the couch Clark was sleeping on, a video camera in her hand. She was recording and narrating the whole thing, her voice sounding like the slow, steady, and quiet tone of those golf-narrator-people.

Clark rolled over.

"He's rolled over."

Clark slowly opened his eyes and looked at her.

Lois focused the camera on his face for a close-up. "He's waking up..." she continued her narrative.

Clark rubbed his eyes.

"He's rubbing his eyes."

"Lois, what are you doing?"

"He's asking me what I'm doing."

"IS THAT A VIDEO CAMERA?"

"He's asking me if this is a video--" Before Lois could finish, Clark had thrown a pillow at her. Lois quickly turned the camera off and started laughing. "What? I tried shaking you to wake you up, but you wouldn't budge. So your mom told me to stare at you for a full five minutes. She said THAT would wake you up. Well, what do you know, she was right."

Clark sighed and sat upright on the couch. "Well, what's with the camera?" he asked, pointing.

"Oh. Well I got bored just staring at you, so I took this down and decided to make the most of it. Besides, I've decided to start a documentary," Lois replied, getting up.

"A documentary?" Clark asked, puzzled.

Lois grinned. "Yep! I'm going to record every moment I spend here in Smallville on this baby," she said, patting her cam. "So hurry up, Clarkness. It's almost time for church, and you're STILL not dressed." She then disappeared up the stairs, her heeled boots making loud noises on the steps.

Clark groaned. Was there no end to her crazy ideas?

...later...

After church that morning, Martha and Lois began preparing some delicious food for lunch. The smells coming from the kitchen were so good, that Clark and Jonathan kept casually strolling in, asking if the food was ready. Annoyed, Martha had banished them from the kitchen and had forbid them from coming in until they were finished. Besides, she wanted to have a word with Lois.

"So.." Martha asked, nudging Lois on the shoulder with her elbow.

Lois stopped chopping the potatoes and looked at her. "So...what?" she asked.

"So what do you have in store for Clark today?" Martha returned.

Lois laughed. "As silly as it sounds, I'm not that sure. But I DO know that on Tuesday we're going to camp out with Chloe in your backyard. I hope you don't mind," she said.

Martha raised her eyebrows. "Camp out? Honey, if you wanted to have a sleepover, you could have just told me. I mean, you could catch cold out there--"

"Ah, no Mrs. Kent. It'll be fine. Besides, I'd like to give you and the hubby some time alone for at least one night," Lois said, trying to assure her hostess. "I hope you guys have a couple of tents available."

Martha nodded her head, saying, "Yes, I think we have two stored up somewhere."

"Great! I'll just share a tent with Chloe," Lois said, finished with the potatoes.

A few minutes later, Martha took out a red-checkered tablecloth from a drawer and asked Lois to help her put it on the table. "It's new," she explained. "I just bought it yesterday."

Clark suddenly came strolling in as they laid it on the table, sniffing the air hungrily. He watched as Lois went back to work on the counter. "Hey mom..." he began, "Are you sure about having Lois help you cook? She might ruin the whole thing and end up burning the house down."

"Hey Clark," Lois said, looking up. "Did you know that you and your mother's tablecloth match?"

Martha shook her head. "Kids, come on. Clark, get out of here, the food won't be ready in at least another hour," she said, shooing him away.

After Lunch

The Loft.

Clark sat on the couch, pencil in hand, as he finished writing a report assigned to his class the day before the water pipe burst. He wanted to get it over with before Lois came up with another crazy plan that he would be forced to go along with. Clark told himself not to roll his eyes as the thought of Lois came to mind. There was something undeniably...special...about her. Clark realized suddenly that Lois was the first woman who didn't swoon or smile when he would walk into a room. When she DID smile, it was either because she was plotting something, or she was knew something he didn't. It was kind of nice to have someone tell you how it was with no beating around the bush. Though Lois' assertiveness was one quality that Clark could live without, he found that that was what made her unique.

Clark decided that he didn't hate her. He..kind of liked her, actually. But, not in THAT-A-WAY. There was something about her presence that was both disturbing and calming at the same time. He knew it sounded weird, but that was how he felt.

Still lost in his thoughts, Clark heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

"CLARK! I'M BORED!" a familiar voice screeched into the barn.

Clark smiled and looked up from his homework. Lois had pulled a chair towards the couch and was sitting in front of him, her face in a pout.

"You could always go home, you know," Clark said, hopefully. "I mean, there are more exciting things to do in the city. You'll just be bored to death down here."

Lois grinned. "Nice try, Smallville. But I'm not done torturing you yet," she said. "Ooh, i know! Let's play some games!"

Clark looked back to the report he was finishing. "Lois, I'm not done with my homework," he said, his voice serious.

"Oh. Well, that's okay. I'll wait," Lois said, sitting back down.

Clark eyed her one last time, before turning back to his paper. He saw with satisfaction that he only needed to write a few more sentences to end his uber-long report. He was just beginning to write again, when he heard a soft click. He looked up to see Lois with the video camera in her hand, recording his every movement.

"Lois," he sighed.

"What?"

"Please turn that thing off."

"Why?"

"You're distracting me!"

Lois waved a hand at him. "Never mind me, Clark. Just pretend I'm not here," she said. As Clark tried getting back to his work, though, Lois began her quiet narrative once more. "I am now here in the famous loft of the world's GREATEST enigma, dun dun DUUUUN...Clark Kent," she began. Clark chose to ignore her. "Over there," Lois said, zooming in on random spots in Clark's loft, "are a bunch of books!..And over there, there's uh...MORE books!..and THAT is his old telescope that he says he uses to look at the stars. But I personally think that he uses it to spy on other people, such as Lan--"

"LOIS!"

"COUGH Sorry. Anyway...And right there," Lois said, focusing the lens on Clark's head, which was bent over his paper, "..is CLARK himself. Say hi, Clark! ("Hi," Clark shortly replied, still not looking at her) Oh, it seeeems as if he is working on his homework. Let's take a look, shall we?...(Lois got up and zoomed in on Clark's paper) Oh, what's this? 'The Legend of King Arthur : Fact or Fiction.' Looks as boring as heck, but never mind about that. Hmm, it seems that he is almost finished. Take in this moment of suspense, people. Will he finish his homework? Will he get a high grade? Or will he gasp FAIL? What if his English teacher thinks that his topic was too boring to even READ or that his handwriting completely sucked? What if she gives him an F--"

"LOIS!"

"Yes?"

"TURN THAT THING OFF!"

"YES! Let's see more of that ANGER! I want to see the smoke coming from your ears, Clark!" Lois said, talking like some movie director.

Clark sighed and did his best to ignore her, adding the finishing touch to his paper. "I'm finished, " he announced. "NOW will you turn that off?"

Lois smiled and did what she was told. She was just about to go back downstairs to maybe watch some TV, when Clark stopped her. "Hey, Lois?" He suddenly said.

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind reading my report for me?.."

"What for?" Lois asked, looking puzzled.

Clark looked down at his feet. In all honesty, he wanted her to stay and keep him company (crazy, I know), but of course he couldn't say that. So he made up an excuse. "Well,um...Since you're older and all..I thought you might tell me what you think of my writing," he said.

Lois chuckled. "Whoa, slow down. Just because I'm oldER, doesn't mean I've got as much brain cells as you do. I've read your stuff, Clark, and you're pretty good," she tried assuring him.

"Yeah, but still..." Clark said, then suddenly lowered his voice to a whisper, "..You said it yourself..I might ...FAIL. And this report counts for almost half my grade in that class."

"Pessimist," Lois rolled her eyes, but took the folder from Clark's hand anyway. She sat on the couch next to him and began flipping through it rapidly. "Dang, Kent," she said. "How many pages are required for this particular report?"

"Two."

"And this is what?..SIXTEEN?"

Clark shrugged. "I just felt like expanding my thoughts. I get carried away sometimes when I'm trying to explain something, or when I'm trying to prove a point...(Lois snorted, "You got that right.") ..and besides..The teacher gives us extra credit if we do extra work," he replied.

"Psh. Clark, you're such an OVER-ACHIEVER." Lois flipped to the first page and began reading. Clark waited patiently, then said he needed the bathroom. While he was gone, Lois found herself getting more and more interested in Clark's choice of topic and continued reading.

A few minutes later, Clark came back and ran up the stairs. Lois sat there on the couch waiting for him. "So?" Clark said, plopping down next to her. "How was it?"

"Oh, you mean your report? It bored me to tears, so i just burned it."

"WHAT!"

"RELAX!" Lois took his folder from behind her and handed it back to him with a smile. "It was...good. Very good. I never knew King Arthur was such an interesting literary figure," she replied.

Clark took the folder from her and suddenly looked up. "Did you just pay me a compliment?" he asked, a smile creeping into his face.

Lois' smile disappeared as she pointed a finger at him. "Yeah, and if you tell ANYONE, I will kick your butt," she said, her voice threatening.

Clark just continued smiling and shook his head. "I won't tell," he said, as Lois got up from the couch.

"Okay, now I'm going to go downstairs and see if your parents need help with anything, " Lois said, fondly ruffling his hair. She began heading back down the stairs. "I do mean it," she suddenly said, turning around briefly to address him. "You did an awesome work on your report, Clark. There were a few run-on sentences, but eh. Those are easy to correct."

"Thanks," Clark said. He didn't know why her opinion mattered so much, but it felt good to have her approval.

"By, the way, did you enjoy the lunch I helped cook?" Lois suddenly called out to him, already halfway out of the barn.

Clark stared at her retreating figure, the smile on his face slowly fading. "...Yeaahh...It was great. Why?"

"Because I spit in your bowl."

Pause.

"YOU WHAT!"

DAY 3

MONDAY MORNING

Clark slowly opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. He could tell from the light peeping out of the windows that it was still early morning. The smell of Martha's cooking coming from the kitchen further encouraged him to get up, so he did just that. Walking into the kitchen, he watched his mother turn around to address him.

"Good morning, Clark," she said, smiling.

"Morning, Mom," he said, kissing her cheek. "Ooh. Is that pancakes?" he asked, staring at the cooking pan. Martha slapped his hand from taking a quick sample.

"Now, Clark," she said sternly. "Go take your shower, and THEN you may have your breakfast," she said.

Clark groaned but obediently walked up the stairs anyway. After grabbing some new clothes he kept in his parents' room (since Lois occupied HIS, duh), he headed for the bathroom. On the way, however, he caught sight of his bedroom, and noticed the door was open a crack. Although tempted to check in on Lois, he forced his feet to move in the direction of the bathroom. He opened the door and stepped inside. He immediately regretted that he did.

- Kitchen -

Martha almost dropped the plate full of waffles and pancakes when she heard piercing screams and yells coming from upstairs. Worried, she ran to the bottom of the stairs, and was just about to ask what all the commotion was about, when her questions were answered for her.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, SMALLVILLE!"

"LOIS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE!"

"WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M DOING? I'M TAKING A FRIGGIN' SHOWER, KENT!"

"YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO GET UP UNTIL TEN OR ELEVEN A.M.!"

"Oh, so there wasn't the slightest possibility that I might have wanted to get up early for a change?"

"NO! Besides, how was I supposed to KNOW you were in here!"

"Oh, gee, that's a toughie. THE SOUND OF WATER HITTING THE TUB AND STEAM COMING OUT FROM UNDER THE DOOR, MAYBE!"

Martha put a hand to her mouth and tried to prevent herself from laughing out loud. She couldn't help chuckling quietly, though.

"IT'S NOT FUNNY, MOM!" she heard Clark yell from upstairs.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING JUST STANDING THERE! GET OUT!" Lois' voice rang.

"I am getting out!"

"WELL, GET OUT FASTER!"

Martha heard the door shut with a bang, and bit her lip as Clark came walking down the stairs. His eyes were plenty round, and he seemed to be on the verge of a heart attack. Panting, he ignored the way his mother looked at him.

"I am scarred for LIFE," he stated, once they were inside the kitchen.

Martha smiled. "Why, how much did you see?" she asked, teasingly. Jonathan walked into the door just as Clark answered, "Enough." Martha laughed.

"Enough what?" Jonathan asked, going to the sink and washing his hands. "Did I miss something?"

Martha sighed and tried wiping the smile off her face, but she couldn't. "Clark walked in on Lois taking a shower," she said, matter-of-factly.

Jonathan raised his eyebrows. "Whoa. I did miss something," he said, sitting down next to Clark on the kitchen table. Clark put his head on the table, his shoulders slumped almost in defeat. He looked about ready to cry. Jonathan patted his son's back and tried comforting him. "It's okay, son," he sighed. "You couldn't help yourself."

"DAD!"

"JONATHAN!"

Clark's head had snapped back up, and Martha began laughing. Clark groaned and tried ignoring his parents. "Ugh, just make sure that I don't see her all day today, all right?" he said, stabbing his fork at the pancakes Martha had placed on his plate.

Martha and Jonathan looked at each other. "What?" Clark asked, munching on his food.

"Er..I'm afraid we won't be able to do that, Clark..." Jonathan said, looking fidgety.

Clark swallowed and raised his eyebrows. "Why not?" he asked.

Jonathan looked to his wife. Martha looked as if she were going to deliver her son some bad news. "Honey...Lois told us before bedtime last night that she wanted to help you and your father out with the farm work today..," she explained.

Clark stared at her in complete and utter shock. "WHAT," was all he was able to get out. His parents cast sympathetic glances his way.

"...That's why she was up so early...?" Martha added, raising her shoulders and spreading her arms. Jonathan began laughing again.

- Meanwhile...In Clark's Bedroom -

Lois sighed into her cell phone as she tried tying up her recently blow-dried hair into a ponytail. "I mean...He just WALKED IN, Chloe. Just...WALKED IN!" she was saying.

Chloe chuckled from the other end of the line. She had woken up not to the sound of her alarm clock, but to the sound of her cousin frantically calling her cell. She was surprised to learn that Clark had walked in on Lois when she was just ending her shower. Chloe had been tempted to laugh but had thought the better of it. "It's karma, Lois," she said instead, yawning.

Lois stopped what she was doing and stared at her cell phone. "Oh, what a great help YOU are!"

"Lois, if i remember correctly, you did the same exact thing to him early in your relationship ("RELATIONSHIP! What RELATIONSHIP!" Lois yelled at her). And plus, YOU saw this guy COMPLETELY NAKED. HE, on the other hand, saw YOU...Wait. How did he see you? You WERE wearing something, right?"

Lois rolled her eyes and began putting her jeans on. "Yes, I was. He saw me with my bra on," she replied.

"Well, see?" Chloe's reasoning voice rang into her ear. "He only saw you HALF-NA--"

"It was my new victoria secret ones, Chlo."

"...Oh. Well, then...I guess he DID see a lot."

"CHLOE!"

"Lois, relax, okay? He didn't mean it! Just think of it as Clark seeing you in an extra-slutty bathing suit, that's all."

"Chloeeeee," Lois said, but couldn't stop the smile creeping into her face. Chloe never failed to cheer her up, even in a situation like this.

Chloe sighed from the other end. "Look, if you're extremely uncomfortable about this, then just avoid him for the day."

"Uh, can't do that."

There was a pause.

"Why not?"

"I volunteered last night to help out with the farm work."

"YOU WHAT!"

"Yeah, and don't tell me to back out, because I can't! Mr. Kent was so excited to show me the ropes, he even let me borrow one of his old shirts!"

Chloe began laughing from the other end. "Lois Lane in PLAID...Tell Clark to take a picture, I just gotta see this!"

AN HOUR LATER

Clark turned around from his hay-forking to see Lois walk in, a pitchfork not unlike his own in her hand. She was in her usual attire. Ponytail, flat boots, tight jeans, flannel shirt. Clark backtracked. FLANNEL SHIRT? "Are you wearing what I THINK you're wearing?" Clark asked in surprise, staring at her.

Lois glared. "I have a pitch fork, and I'm not afraid to use it," she threatened, walking towards him.

Clark shrugged and turned his eyes back to the hay. After that little incident in the bathroom, he found it hard to look Lois in the eye. He was still working on getting that disturbing image of her being only half dressed (No, scratch that, Clark thought, ONE-THIRD dressed). You'd think that seeing her in one of his father's old shirts would help him do that, but it only made things worse. Lois made ANYTHING, including plaid, look sexy. She had the sleeves neatly rolled up to her elbows, and had tied the bottom of the shirt into something that looked like a knot or bow up to her waist.

Lois sighed and looked at her shirt. "I was a bit disappointed it didn't come in pink," she sarcastically said, noticing the way Clark cast her sideway glances. He chuckled quietly and leaned against his pitchfork. An uncomfortable silence stretched between them.

Lois sighed and spoke first. "Uhm...About this morning.."

Clark shuffled his feet. "Yeah...about that. I'm really--" Before he could finish his apology, however, Lois interrupted him.

"Okay, so you saw me getting out of the shower wearing only my bra with a tiny towel around my waist. But what the heck you know, it happens every day. It's not like you meant it, right?" she said, looking anywhere but at Clark.

Clark blushed. "No, I didn't. I'm really, really sorry, Lois. As stupid as it sounds, I must have not been paying attention on my way to the bathroom. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you, just tell me. But I'll understand if you decide not to--"

"Geez,Smallville, stop before you hurt yourself," Lois said, waving a gloved hand around. "I know you're sorry. Let's forget about it," she said, smiling in an assuring way.

Clark found himself smiling back. After a few moments, Lois cleared her throat. "Ahem. So. What should I do first?" she asked, eyeing her pitchfork, and then the hay.

Clark took his pitchfork back into his hands and quickly cleared his throat as well. "Oh! Um. Did my dad teach you how to use that thing?" he asked.

"Sure," Lois said. "You just stick the pointy ends into the hay, right?"

"He didn't teach you ,huh."

"Nope."

And so, Clark found himself spending the next half hour teaching Lois the "Art of Pitch Forking Hay". Lois couldn't help chuckling in between instructions, and when Clark asked why, she replied with, "Sorry, sorry. You make it sound like some surgical procedure, that's all. Geez, Kent, how hard can pitch forking be?"

Clark, finished with his lil' "How to Pitchfork" lecture, put a hand to his hip. "Okay, so why don't YOU try it?" he asked, challenging her.

Lois sniffed and said, "Fine, I will." Clark stepped back as she walked in front of him and dug her pitchfork into the pile of hay. Pulling with all her might, Lois watched as it emerged with a large amount of hay on it. When she tried to dump it into the other pile, however, she tipped backwards instead...right into Clark's waiting arms.

"Whoa, now. I think you took more than you could handle," Clark said, a smile evident in his voice. Before Lois could think up a smart reply, she noticed the way Clark held her shoulders in a strong yet gentle grip.

"Hey...Looks like you KNEW I was going to fall over," Lois said, looking up at him.

Clark nodded.

"WELL, WHY DIDN'T YOU WARN ME!"

"Oh, sorry. I thought you could handle it. After all, you ARE a big girl, right?"

"Dang right, I am!"

"Heeeey, what's going on here?" A new voice joined in. Lois and Clark both looked up to see Jonathan walking in, two milk pails in hand.

Jonathan looked at them queerly, and with reason too. Lois was leaning against Clark's chest, and Clark's own arms were half-wrapped around her. They were staring heatedly at each other. What kind of teenage whacko's would FIGHT and HUG at the same time? If Jonathan didn't have his hands full, he would've scratched his head.

Lois finally pulled away from Clark's "embrace" and addressed a puzzled Jonathan. "Ah, Clarkie here was just teaching me how to use the pitchfork. You'd think he'd REMEMBER to tell me HOW MUCH HAY TO GET AT A TIME--"

"It's called common sense, Lois," Clark said, rolling his eyes. "Ever heard of that?"

Lois opened her mouth to snap back, when Jonathan intervened. "Clark," he said, handing the pails to his son. "Betsy's waiting to be milked. Why don't you show Lois how it's done, while I finish up here?" he asked.

"Who's Betsy?" Lois asked.

"Our good and faithful cow, Lois. You drank her milk this morning," Jonathan smiled.

Lois nodded her head. "Interesting...So! Milking cows. There's something I've always wanted to do. Mind showing me where BETSY is, Clark?" she asked, turning to him.

Clark handed her a pail and they both walked outside, Jonathan a few steps behind them. "She's over there--Hey, mom," Clark stopped in his tracks to find his mother standing there, smiling at him with her hands behind her back.

"Mrs. Kent!...Shouldn't you be getting ready for work?" Lois asked, looking surprised.

"Oh, no sweetie," Martha said, "It's my day off."

"Oh, okay...Well, come on Clark! Let's go squeeze some cow boob!" Lois said, patting his back and walking ahead of him.

"'Squeeze some cow--!'" Clark began in disgust. Then he saw the direction Lois was heading for and ran after her, "LOIS! YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!"

Jonathan came out last and smiled at his wife. "How much did you get?" he asked, watching his son and Lois head for the cow shed.

Martha slipped her arms from behind her back and revealed Lois' video camera in her hand. She looked up at Jonathan, an evil glint in her eye. "Everything," she replied.

ONE HOUR LATER

The Kent Cows

Lois wiped the sweat off her forehead and swallowed. Who knew milking cows was such a hard task? How Clark was able to accomplish this and much more almost every morning, Lois didn't know. After teaching her the right way to milk cows, Clark had left her with good ole' Betsy. He had gone off with his dad to tend to the livestock, and after that, they were to head into town to buy some supplies. They wouldn't be back for hours.

Lois didn't mind Clark's going, though. While Martha prepared lunch in the kitchen, she talked up a storm in the cow shed, pouring out all her doubts ("I wonder if I'll ever get through college?"), fears ("You know, there was this ugly spider that crept into Clark's bedroom last night. I had to squash it with my shoe! Ugh, SO nasty.."), worries ("What if I die trying to milk you?") , and complaints ("Man, it STINKS in here!") to Betsy. She knew it was kind of weird to engage in conversation with a COW, but at least it had manners. Betsy's "MOO"s were much better than Clark's lame comebacks.

Lois sighed and got up, counting the buckets of milk she had filled. After taking one in hand, she patted Betsy's head. "You know what, you're a great listener," she said, smiling. "Thanks for not kicking me, Bets!"

"MOOOoooo..." came the reply.

Lois grinned and slowly walked outside, the large milk pail in her hands. She looked up to see Martha walking towards her.

"Oh, Lois, honey, you don't have to carry that all the way out here. Just leave them outside the shed. Clark will take care of them," she said, taking the pail from Lois' hands and setting it against the shed wall. "Would you like to come inside now?" she asked, turning back to her guest.

Lois smiled and shook her head. "Nah. We've got one more hour till lunch time right? Is there anything else I can do?"

Martha looked uncomfortable. "Oh, but Lois, you're our guest. Really, you don't have to.."

"I fully intend to spend my morning immersed in dirty farm work," Lois said, before Martha could utter another word. "Come on, Mrs. Kent! What else can I do?"

Martha sighed. There was no convincing Lois, that was for sure. "Well," she said. "I was about to get the eggs from the hen house--"

"GREAT! I'll help you!" Lois said, putting an arm around Martha and leading the way to the place where they kept the egg-laying hens. After they took out some baskets to put the eggs into, they had a long, pleasant conversation. Martha, being the loving mother she was, told Lois the crazy things Clark did as a child (keeping out the holes he punched into the walls while having a tantrum, of course), and Lois laughed in all the right places.

They didn't notice Clark and Jonathan pull up into the driveway until Clark came walking towards them, his face and clothes covered in mud. Martha and Lois walked out of the hen house, baskets full of eggs on their arms.

"Oh good heavens," Martha said.

"What happened to YOU?" Lois asked, close behind.

"The truck got stuck in a ditch on our way home. But everything's okay. We were able to push it out onto the road again," Clark said. Lois looked behind him and saw Jonathan getting out of the truck, which was almost entirely covered in mud.

"Judging by the lack of mud on Mr. Kent's clothing," Lois said, looking at Clark. "I'm guessing it was YOU who pushed the truck out of the ditch."

Clark looked down at his muddied clothes and grinned. "Your guess is right," he said.

"All by yourself?"

Martha and Clark suddenly looked nervous. "Uhhh.."

Thankfully, Jonathan came walking towards them, a grin on his face. "Well, don't YOU look at home!" he said, addressing Lois.

Lois laughed. "If i may say so, Mr. Kent, I AM at home," she smiled.

Jonathan laughed, "You may."

They all walked into the house afterwards, and prepared to eat the delicious meal Martha had cooked for them. During lunch, Jonathan asked Clark and Lois if they would mind washing the mud-covered truck at the end of the day. Lois immediately said yes, and Clark agreed as well.

So, as soon as it hit four o'clock, Clark called out to Lois from across the farming grounds. "LOIS!" he shouted, waving his arms. "IT'S TIME TO WASH THE TRUCK!"

Lois looked up from helping Jonathan stack up the hay and shouted back, "WHAT!"

"IT'S TIME TO WASH THE TRUCK!"

Lois froze. "O.M.G. DID YOU JUST SAY IT'S TIME TO FU--!"

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Clark bellowed, interrupting her. "IT'S TIME. TO WASH. THE TRUUUCK!" He made hand gestures towards his father's truck in the driveway.

"OH OKAY!" Lois laughed. "You know, for a minute there, I thought he said.." Jonathan raised an eyebrow at her. "Never mind," she finished.

Lois helped Clark take out the towels, buckets, soap, etc., and they began filling some buckets with water. She was exhausted from the day's work (she had slipped twice on manure), but since washing the truck was the last thing she would have to do, she didn't mind.

While she was working on getting the mud off the tires, however, she felt a stream of cold water hit the back of her head. Lois shrieked and got on her feet, turning around to look at Clark.

"Oops," Clark said. He had been hosing the front of the truck, and had accidentally hit Lois in the process. "Sorry," he said, laughing at Lois' appearance. She was dripping in water.

"Sorry my butt!" Lois said, taking the bucket full of soapy water at her feet and dumping it on Clark's shoulders.

"AUUUUUUUUUUGH!" Clark yelled. While he was still distracted with the water dripping all over his body, Lois grabbed the hose from his hand.

Meanwhile, inside the house, Martha grinned and pressed the record button on Lois' video cam. "You're on candid camera," she smiled, as Lois sprayed an already-drenched Clark with more water.

"LOIS, STOP IT!"

"NOT A CHANCE, KENT!" Lois said in glee. She stopped laughing, though, when she saw Clark take hold of his own water-filled bucket, and dumped it over her head. Lois screamed, and before she could retaliate, Clark tugged the hose from her hands, and began spraying it on her. Letting out a warrior cry, Lois ran to his back and jumped at him from behind, trying to distract him with her weight.

They were still laughing and in the midst of fighting over the hose, when they heard someone clear her throat. They stopped, the hose still spurting out tons of water, and looked up to see...Lana Lang.

"...I'm sorry," Lana finally said, looking uncomfortable. "Should I come back later?"

It was then that Clark saw the way they were positioned. Lois was still on his back, her arms wrapped around his neck, and he was still holding the hose. "Hi, Lana," they both said. Lois quickly got off of him, and tried hard not to giggle. It looked like they had gone swimming with their clothes on. Clark noticed this too, and they burst out laughing.

Lana raised her eyebrows and tried to smile, but looked even more uncomfortable than before.

"It's okay, Lana," Lois said, walking up to her. "We were just..." She looked at Clark, who was still trying to control his laughter. "...washing the car. ANYWAY! What brings you to the Kent farm?" she asked, turning back to Lana.

Lana seemed to come out of whatever trance she was in. "Oh! Um. Lex dropped by with this invitation for all of you," she said, handing Lois a white envelope. "He forgot today was Martha's day off, so I said I'd deliver it in person," she added.

"Ooh, thanks," Lois said. Clark walked up and read from behind her shoulder, "Jonathan, Martha, Clark, and Lois Lane Kent are invited to a dinner party at Luthor Mansion this Thursday at 7 p.m..." Etc.,etc., it named the rest of the details.

"WHOA. 'Lois Lane Kent?' MAJOR typo there, people," Lois said, coughing and trying not to gag. "We should have a word with Lex's secretary, eh, Smallville?" She looked up at Clark, expecting him to be vomiting by now. Surprisingly, he had busted out laughing again. Lois and Lana looked at him weirdly.

"CLARK!" They heard Jonathan call from the barn. "I NEED HELP!"

Clark stopped laughing and addressed the ladies. "Oh, sorry, I have to go. Dad's calling. Uh...see you later, Lana," he said, smiling at her. He then continued chuckling as he walked towards the barn, dripping wet.

Lois waved a hand around as soon as he was gone. "Sorry, he's...he's hyper," she said.

Lana smiled and nodded her head, slowly looking at Lois. "Only around you," she replied, softly.

Lois stopped smiling and was about to ask what she meant, when Lana turned around and headed for her car. "I'll see you Thursday night," she said, waving and giving Lois one last smile.

Lois waved back and watched Lana drive away, a puzzled look on her face. She didn't know that from inside the barn, Clark had heard that last comment too.


	4. Day 4

Chapter 4 - Day 4

Having just finished his chores, Clark felt like he needed a good long nap. Lois had dozed off right after lunch, and he wanted to do the same thing. He was just about to walk into the house, intent on taking a hot shower before heading for the couch, when a car horn sounded from behind him.

Clark turned around to see Chloe pulling into the driveway. What was she doing here? Curious, Clark walked back down the porch to greet her. Good-bye, naptime, he mournfully thought.

"Hey, Clark!" Chloe said, getting out of her car. She had slung a knapsack over her shoulder and was walking up to him, a smile on her face.

"Hey...Are you here to take Lois somewhere or..." Clark asked, looking puzzled. He eyed Chloe's knapsack. It looked like she was sleeping over or something.

Chloe raised her eyebrows. "Uh, Clark. Hello? Today's the camp-out in your backyard?" she said, trying to jog his memory.

Something clunked into place inside Clark's head as he suddenly remembered. "Oh!...That was today?" he asked, looking surprised.

"What, Lois forgot to remind you?...Where is she by the way?" Chloe asked, crouching her eyebrows.

Clark gestured towards the house and replied, "She's upstairs, sleeping." Before he could say anything else, however, a voice rang through the front yard.

"CHLOE! You made it!"

Clark and Chloe turned around to see Lois walking down the porch steps, a big smile on her face. She had a jacket on and a purse dangled from her shoulder. Clark also noticed that she was holding her video cam, a notebook, and a pen.

"Sleeping, huh?" Chloe smirked. Clark rolled his eyes.

"Lois," he said, turning to address her, "You didn't tell me today was the camp out."

"Well, my apologies. I thought you'd remember...You being all SMART and stuff, you know," she replied, as she walked up to them.

"Do my parents know ab--"

"YEP! Your dad took out a couple of tents from the attic, your mom has the marshmallows and popcorn ready, Chloe's here...so we're all set!"

"Oh," Clark softly replied. He seemed a little embarrassed by how out of it he was.

Chloe edged a little closer to her cousin and looked at the little notebook Lois was holding. "What's this?" she asked, pointing.

"Oh!" Lois said. "THIS is all the stuff I have planned out for us today. Okay, listen to this: First, we go to the Smallville Fair--"

"The FAIR?" Clark burst from his spot.

Lois rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Smallville, they're going to be gone by the end of the week! I reallllly want to go, and today is the only day open for that. Tomorrow I'll be in town shopping, Thursday is Lex's party, and then I leave the day after that, so...ANYWAY. I think we shouldn't spend more than a couple of hours at the fair, because we still have to come back and set up the tents in the back yard. Now, here's the list of things I want to do all night..."

Clark didn't hear the rest of Lois' plans for the evening. His mind was still dwelling on the words Lois had spoken seconds before, "...then I leave the day after that..." Normally, Clark's reaction to those words would have been a complete performance of the "hallelujah" chorus, but now he wasn't so sure. Clark took a few moments to think about what he was feeling. Was he actually...SAD about Lois leaving the farm?...He paused before mentally laughing to himself and thinking, "NAAAAAAhh!"

"Clark?...Helllloooo..."

A hand suddenly began waving a few inches from Clark's face. Startled, he looked down and saw Lois and Chloe watching him expectantly. "Oh, sorry," Clark said, recovering quickly. "What were you saying, Lois?"

Lois' mouth opened a little as she shot him a look of frustration and disbelief. "You mean you didn't hear a word I SAID?" she asked, eyes round and dangerous.

Clark looked at her for a second before gulping and saying, "Er..no?"

"Clark here has ADD," Chloe explained, rolling her eyes to look at her cousin.

Lois just sniffed, turned around, and started walking towards her car. "Well, that's just too bad, isn't it?" she said, unlocking the door and opening it. "I certainly am not going to repeat my long list of plans, so Clark here will just have to find out for himself," she continued, starting the car.

Clark groaned and put hands to the sides of his head. "Chloe, please, tell me what she's planning to do," he said, looking desperate.

Chloe smiled and began walking towards Lois' car. "Don't worry, Clark, it's just a mix of games, food, and scary stories around the campfire," she said, getting into the back seat and closing the door.

Smallville Fair

Chloe shook her head a little and tried getting that irritating buzz out of her ears. Her ears had begun ringing right after Lois and Clark had stopped fighting in the car. Chloe swore that a headache was coming. That's the last time I'm riding with THEM, she thought. Of course she knew that was impossible. Lois was her cousin and Clark was her best friend. Chloe bleakly predicted that she would frequently find herself stuck in a car with them and their bickering for many more years to come. Oh joy, she thought.

Thinking back, Chloe remembered that the argument had begun the moment Clark had seated himself in the front seat beside Lois.

"Chloe," Lois had asked, "Why is HE sitting here? YOU were supposed to be in front with ME."

Before Chloe had been able to reply, an irritated Clark had asked, "Why, what's so wrong with me sitting next to you?"

"Because I'm still MAD AT YOU," Lois said, acting as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, that's news," Clark snorted.

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!"

"You're ALWAYS MAD AT ME."

What happened after that was a whole lot more yelling and arguing that lasted for about half an hour. One argument led to another, until Chloe decided that she had had enough. "GUYS, will you please just SHUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuut UPPPPPPPPPPPpppp!" she had shouted. Clark and Lois stopped long enough to look at her. "When you are finished with your stupid quarreling," Chloe had testily suggested, "WOULD YOU MIND PULLING OUT OF THE FREAKIN' DRIVEWAY SO WE CAN GET TO THE FREAKIN' FAIR!" Not until then did Lois and Clark realize that they were still parked in front of the Kents' home.

Martha and Jonathan had been standing on the porch, watching them with weirded out looks on their faces. Martha had felt like she was watching a silent movie. Lois and Clark in the car, shouting and pointing fingers at each other, and Chloe sitting in the back with her head in her hands...

Lois finally drove onto the road, and she and Clark agreed to stop fighting. The quiet lasted for about five minutes. Lois had turned the radio on and was happily listening to some rock music, when Clark changed the radio station to a classical one.

"WHAT THE--WHAT'S THIS!" Lois had yelled.

"Mozart."

Lois switched it back to her station, saying, "You've been spending too much time around the Luthor's, Clark."

"HEY!" Clark had complained. "I don't like this sort of music!"

"TOO BAD!"

"This type of music is not GOOD FOR THE EARS--"

"What, and MOZ-ASS IS!"

THIS argument lasted for about ten minutes. They were well into town already when Chloe told them, once again, to shut up.

Finally, they arrived at the fair. By then, both Clark and Lois had calmed down enough to speak civilly towards each other. Chloe couldn't help but think that they acted like a weird married couple. Fighting one moment, and making up the next, chatting as if nothing had happened. Chloe shuddered at the thought of them getting married. If they ever ended up together (which Chloe doubted very much), they'd probably diss each other for about an hour, and then make out as a means of making up.

Chloe tried not to smile at the possibilities and tried to focus on all the rides Lois was pointing at. There were all sorts of games planted everywhere, and they didn't know where to start.

"Oooh, look at this!" Lois suddenly said, pointing at a fortune teller's booth. Dark velvet draped in a tent-like fashion around it. "'Have your fortunes told for a quarter,'" Lois read from the sign. Suddenly, she shoved her handy video cam into Chloe's hands and took Clark's hand in hers'. "Come on, let's try it!"

Clark was reluctant. "Lois...You know that fortune tellers are phonies," he protested.

"Yeah, i know they are. But it's hilarious watching them trying to read your palm and gazing mysteriously into their plastic crystal balls. Come on, it's just a quarter!" Lois tried convincing him.

Chloe laughed and gave Clark a little push on the back. "Go on, Clark. You know how she can't help poking fun at people. It's her LIFE ("Hey!" Lois said). Besides, it gives you something to do while I go buy some cotton candy," she said.

Clark sighed, and finally agreed. "Fine. But YOU'RE paying," he said, giving Lois a pointed look.

Lois rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine, you cheap-butt, just go in," she said, tugging at his arm.

Chloe shook her head as she watched the two walk into the tent, then turned around to the opposite booth which sold cotton candy. After paying for three, she munched on the sweet pink stuff and waited for Clark and Lois to emerge. She checked her watch. It had been exactly eight minutes.

They came out presently, but not in the way Chloe had imagined. She had expected Lois to be laughing her head off at the stupid fortunes the teller had to tell, and Clark to be rolling his eyes in extreme annoyance. Instead, Clark walked out backwards with a determined look on his face, his arms securely wrapped around Lois' waist. He was half dragging/half lifting her out of the tent as she shouted profanities, yelling and shaking her fists.

"Oh my goodness," Chloe said, walking towards them, a worried look on her face. "What the heck happened?"

Clark tried explaining, but Lois kept shouting and trying to break free from his hold. "LET ME AT HER, LET ME AT HER!" she yelled, trying to go back inside. But Clark held her arm in a strong grip and she couldn't get away.

"Gosh, Lois! You're overreacting! Come on, it's no big deal!" Clark said, trying to calm her down. They were starting to attract attention from the people passing by.

"No big deal?" Lois panted, looking at him. "NO BIG DEAL! THAT..THAT (here she called the fortune teller some foul word which made Clark say, "LOIS!") SAID THAT WE WERE GOING TO GET MARRIED!"

Chloe almost choked on her cotton candy as she burst into laughter. "Funny," she said, smiling and trying to breathe, "I was just thinking about the same thing earlier."

"Chloe," Clark said, giving her a you-are-so-not-helping look. "Lois, let it go, she's a FAKE. We weren't supposed to take anything she said SERIOUSLY, remember?" he said, turning his attention back to his "future wife."

"I don't care, I want my MONEY BACK!"

"It was just a quarter!" Clark said, trying to reason with her.

"Yeah, but prophesying that in about a few years' time I would be married to YOU!"

Clark sighed, took hold of Lois' shoulders, and looked hard into her eyes. "We are NOT. GOING. TO GET. MARRIED. Okay? So calm down!"

There was a slight pause in Lois' heavy breathing. Clark watched her as she looked at him. "Oh, so you think I'm not good enough for you?" she suddenly asked.

Clark was caught off guard at the change of subject. His hands dropped from her shoulders. "What? What are you--"

"Is it because I'm so behind in my college classes? Huh, is that it? You think I won't even graduate and make something of myself? You think I won't be able to be a good MOTHER AND WIFE?"

"WHAT!"

"You think I'm below you, don't you?"

"NO I DO NOT! It's YOU who thinks that I'M not good enough to be your husband! I mean the look on your face when that lady said that we were--"

"Oh, so untrue."

"Admit it, you think I wouldn't make a good lover."

"What!" Lois said, trying to calm HIM down. "Of course you would make a good lo--wait. What the eff am I saying? SHUT UP KENT!"

"You think that since I am a simple farm boy, i won't be able to provide you with the money and security that you need! How dare you think that I'm not good enough for you, believing that I think that you're not good enough for me, when it is a well known fact that though you think i'm not good enough thinking that you're not good enough, I AM!"

Lois blinked at him for a few seconds. "...huh?.." She looked at Chloe, who shrugged. "DANG IT, SMALLVILLE, NOW I'M CONFUSED!"

"Well, you started it!"

"HEEEEEEEEEY!" Chloe said, cutting in, "I thought you guys didn't want to get married in the first place!"

"WE DON'T!" "HELL NO!" came the loud replies.

"THEN WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU FIGHTING ABOUT! OMGAAAAaaawsh...!" Chloe sighed, and placed the cotton candies into Clark's and Lois' hands. "Eat some of your cotton candy, NOW," she ordered. She waited until they had bit into their food before speaking, "That fortune teller is some deranged psycho who tells everyone their 'future's' for a living, okay? She belongs in a mental correctional facility, so don't take any of her words seriously. Now can we PLEASE go on one of the rides?"

This calmed them down somewhat, and in about a few minutes time, Lois had mischievously mashed her cotton candy into Clark's face, and they were laughing again. "Awww.." Chloe said, recording them on the video cam. "How sweet. They kissed and made up!"

Lois shook her head. "I wouldn't know about the kissing part, but sure we've made up," she said, swinging an arm around Clark's shoulders. "Come on, guys, let's ride the ferris wheel!" she said, turning around and pointing.

Clark suddenly looked nervous, and shuffled his feet a little. "Um...no. I don't think so," he said.

"And why not?" Lois said, turning to look at him.

Clark looked around the fair grounds for a few minutes before answering. "...I'm afraid of heights," he admitted, blushing a little.

Lois looked surprised at first, then put hands to her hips. "Whaaaaaaaat," she slowly said. "Big guy like YOU? Afraid of HEIGHTS?" Clark nodded almost reluctantly. Lois sighed. "Oh well, that's just too bad..." she suddenly brightened. "Come on, Chloe!" she said, taking her cousin by the hand and pulling her.

Chloe laughed and quickly tossed the video cam she was holding over to Clark. "Wait for us here!" she said, as Lois pulled her towards the ferris wheel.

Clark grinned in reply and finished his cotton candy as he waited for Lois and Chloe to get into their seats.

- FERRIS WHEEL...where Lois and Chloe were...-

Chloe and Lois waved at Clark and the camera as the ferris wheel took them to the very top. Chloe shuddered a bit when they started going down. "So..." she said, trying to take her mind off of how high they were, "Were you invited to Lex's party?"

Lois nodded. "Yep. Lana dropped it off at the farm yesterday afternoon," then she started laughing.

"What?" Chloe asked, smiling.

Lois shook her head and waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, it's nothing," she said, but Chloe wouldn't stop bugging her, so she spilled. "...The invitation included me as one of the Kents'," she said.

Chloe looked confused. "What do you mean?"

Lois told her the story of the "Lane Kent" mistake and began laughing again, "It was so weird."

Chloe waited a few moments before slowly smiling at her. When Lois asked her what that smile meant, she just answered, "Nothing." Though her cousin tried coaxing her to confess, Chloe remained firm and silent. So Lois gave up, and they were quiet for a while.

"Hey..." Lois suddenly said. She turned to Chloe. "Wanna cure Clark of his fear of heights?"

Chloe crouched her eyebrows, puzzled, but quickly caught on. She nodded gladly.

After their ride was over, Lois and Chloe quickly got off and strode purposefully towards Clark, who was still recording them. "Hey, how was it?" he asked, as they neared him. He suddenly yelped as Chloe and Lois took hold of his arms, causing him to drop the camera on the ground. "What are you doing?"

"YOU," Chloe said, "are going to the ride the ferris wheel with Lois."

A look of horror appeared on Clark's face, and his eyes turned as round as saucers. "No," he said, firmly planting his feet on the ground. Lois and Chloe, who had been easily pulling him through the crowd, suddenly jerked to a stop as Clark held his ground.

"Come on...Smallville..." Lois said, grunting as she pulled on his upper arm. When that didn't work, she put one of her shoulders on his back and tried pushing him from his spot.

"Clark," Chloe said, a strained look on her face as she pulled on his hands, "COME ON!"

"I don't want to!"

"UGH, KENT!" Lois panted, stopping to rest awhile before putting her back up against Clark's and pushing with all her might, "How much do you WEIGH?"

People stared as Lois and Chloe yelled at Clark and pushed/pulled on him. Exhausted as heck, the girls stopped after a few minutes. Although Chloe had given up, Lois had done anything but. She dropped down on her knees and hugged Clark's legs, fake sobbing. She was VERY determined to get him on that ferris wheel. "CLARRRRK!" she cried. "Please ride the ferris wheel, PLEEASSSSEEE! If you don't ride with me, I'll be unhappy forever, and you don't want that, do you? COME ON CLARK, PLEASSSSEEE!"

Some people stopped to look at them. "Lois," Clark growled at her. "Get up!"

But Lois wasn't finished with him. "Who CARES IF YOU'RE AFRAID OF HEIGHTS! Come on it's just one ride! If I die tomorrow, what will you do? YOU'LL HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE GUILT OF NOT GRANTING MY LAST WISH before I DIIIED! My spirit won't be at peace!...WAAAAAAahhhh! PLEASE! RIDE! THE! FERRIS! WHEEL! WITH! MEEEEEEE..." Lois sobbed haltingly as she buried her face into Clark's jeans and made wailing sounds. No one saw the sinister grin on her face. Chloe could barely hold her laughter. Following her cousin's lead, she too got on her knees and started bowing before Clark repeatedly. "PLEASE RIDE THE FERRIS WHEEL WITH HER CLARK!..YOU'RE OUR ONLY HOPE! She'll DIE if you don't get on! We're BEGGING you!"

"...please ride the Ferris wheel...please ride the Ferris wheel..." they chanted, salaaming before his feet.

"Guys, get UP, you're embarrassing me!"

"PUH-LEASSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEE..." They were crying again, this time louder than before. Lois and Chloe latched themselves onto Clark's legs and started wailing as if someone had died.

"Aw, come on, give the poor girls a chance," some guy suddenly shouted from the crowd. "Yeah! It's just the Ferris wheel!" another yelled. "Who can refuse such hot chicks?" someone commented. "Which one's his girlfriend?" "I dunno. Both of 'em?" "PIMP!" "Hey dude, if that blonde is free I'd like to take her out!" "RIDE THE FERRIS WHEEL!" a few more people called out. Clark blushed pink at the crowd that was beginning to gather.

He sighed, frustrated, and looked at Lois and Chloe. They were kneeling on the ground hugging each other, shaking from laughter or tears, he didn't know. But they were sure making a lot of noise. "Okay, okay, okay, just GET UP and stop begging me! Geez!" And just as soon as he said this, Chloe and Lois immediately stopped crying and got up as if nothing were wrong. Lois took hold of his arm and dragged him towards the ride, as Chloe called out, "Have FUUUUUUUUuun!"

Clark groaned.

Ferris Wheel

Clark glared at Lois as she took the seat next to him. "I can NOT believe you guys did that," he said, shifting uncomfortably, his expression grumpy.

Lois nudged him in the elbows, still grinning. "Well it got you here, didn't it?" she said, as the ride started.

Clark just rolled his eyes. In his annoyance, he didn't realize that the ferris wheel was turning and that they had already stopped at the very top. "WOOOOOOOOO-HOOO!" he heard Lois yell. "I'M KING OF THE WORLD!" she said, waving her arms around.

"Lois!" he said. "Stop it, people are staring at us!"

"So..?"

Clark shook his head and suddenly realized that the ride had stopped. "Why aren't we moving?" he asked.

Lois grinned, "Because we're at the very top." She watched as Clark suddenly grew rigid and continued, "We stay here for about a minute and then we go down."

"And then?"

"And then we go up again."

"Does the ride stop again at the very top?"

"Umm...no. It stops the third time around, though."

Lois watched Clark focus on the stars above, purposefully not looking down. She took pity on him, and patted his shoulder. "Come on, Clark. You can look. It's not that high," she tried assuring him, as if he were a child.

Clark quickly shook his head and closed his eyes. "No," he said, his tone resolute. After a few moments, however, he felt something warm grab his hand. He opened his eyes and looked down at the seat. Lois had placed her hand over his, and was smiling encouragingly.

"Look at me," she said, pointing to her eyes. Clark looked at her. "Now...slowly...look down. Come on, look down." When Clark didn't move, Lois took hold of his chin, turned his head sideways, and made him look down.

"HEY CLARK!" Chloe called from the bottom, camera in hand. She was recording them and waving at the same time.

"Hi..." Clark said quietly, and he tried waving at Chloe. He was still kind of nervous as he looked at her, because their seat was situated at the very top. Chloe gave him an encouraging smile and he smiled back. He was still looking down at all the people walking around, when he felt shifting beside him.

"Awwww, now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Lois voice brought Clark's eyes back to hers'. He saw her smiling from ear to ear.

Clark faintly smiled back. "No," he softly said, "It wasn't." Lois gave his hand a small squeeze and finally let go. Clark found himself wishing that she hadn't.

...after the ride...

"YEAH!" Lois yelled, as she and Clark stepped off the Ferris wheel platform. "HE SURVIVED! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, HE SURVIVED!" She said, taking Clark's arm and waving it around victoriously. Clark looked away, obviously embarrassed, as a few people smiled and clapped at Lois' announcement.

Chloe laughed as she recorded Clark and Lois walking back towards her. "Hey, so are you cured?" she asked Clark, as soon as he was back at her side. Lois was looking around for more rides to...well...RIDE.

Clark chuckled and shrugged. "I don't know," he said, doubtfully.

"Aw come on," Lois said, punching his arm. "You had fun! Say it! Tell Chloe you had fun."

"Okay, okay. I had fun," he said, after a brief pause. He smiled when the girls started jumping around and gave him high-fives.

"YEAH! WOO-HOO!" Lois and Chloe whooped, doing a little happy dance. "Clark had fun..Clark had fun..Clark had fun..." they chanted, walking in a circle, and dancing like indians. "Take a picture, Chloe!" Lois ordered. "We've just made HISTORY!" Clark smiled as Lois put an elbow on his shoulder and Chloe took the pcture. The flash was blinding.

"PERFECT! Okay what do we ride next?" Chloe asked.

They spent the next hour and a half riding kiddy roller coasters (Clark had SO much fun, that he made Lois and Chloe ride it five more times. The girls had all they could do not to throw up), the spinning tea-cups, and much more. They even took part in some of the games in which Clark won his friends huge stuffed animals. They even went into a freakish "haunted house" where Chloe and Clark scared the heck out of Lois by grabbing at her in the dark. Chloe and Lois took turns using the video cam and camera, capturing almost every moment they spent at the fair.

After an afternoon filled with fun, they reluctantly agreed that it was time to go home. It was getting dark, and they still some camp-out stuff to do. "Thanks for the bunny, Clark!" Lois said, hugging the oversized pink bunny that Clark had won for her at the...place-where-you-take-this-hammer-and-hit-the-thing-and-some -ball-goes-up-and-rings-the-bell (sorry I don't know what it's called HAHA). "You're welcome," Clark said, after Chloe had also thanked him for the teddy bear he had won HER. He put his arms around Lois and Chloe, who were walking on either side of him, and gave them brief, little hugs. It had been fun spending time with them.

"Aww, now I feel bad," Lois thoughtfully said.

"Why's that?" Clark asked.

"YOU didn't get anything."

Clark shrugged. "It's okay. I rode the Ferris wheel, the spinning teacups, those tiny roller coasters..went through the haunted house, the hall of mirrors, played bumper cars..." He counted his fingers, "...and was told that Lois was going to be my wife by a crazy old woman. I think that's enough," he said, turning to look at them. The girls laughed at this.

"Come on, LADIES," Lois said, smiling at the way Clark scowled at her. "Who's ready for some CAMPING!"

Clark grinned as Chloe whooped. As he was coming to realize, Lois' plans weren't so bad after all.

KENT FARM

Martha smiled as she looked out the window at the "children." She had offered them some REAL dinner (fried chicken and mashed potatoes) but they had firmly refused. Or rather, LOIS had refused. Chloe and Clark were practically drooling at the dinner she had prepared. Lois, however, was expecting them to live on beef jerky, popcorn, and marshmallows. Martha told them that she would put some away if they ever got hungry.

"Have they managed to get at least ONE up yet?" Jonathan's voice startled Martha and she turned to see him looking out the window as well.

She laughed, "No. They almost had it, though, until Lois tripped over the fire wood and fell onto the tent Clark and Chloe had just put up. I think they're trying to fix it again."

Jonathan laughed beside her and eyed Lois with some pieces of the tent structure in her hands. When she turned around to address Chloe, the sticks hit Clark square in the face. Apologies and some yelling ensued. "Do you think I should go out there and tell them how it's done?" Jonathan raised an eyebrow.

"You gave them the instructions, right?"

"Yes."

"They'll figure it out."

"But, sweetheart--"

Jonathan was interrupted by Martha's arms around his neck. "Honey," she said, "Let's just let them do this on their own, okay?...Besides, as Lois put it, i want to spend some time with my 'hubby.'" And she kissed him.

Meanwhile...Outside in the Back yard...

"It's been exactly.." Chloe checked her watch, "ONE HOUR since we started this 'tent-building' stuff, and there STILL isn't a tent in sight." She was sitting on one of three folding chairs that Lois had set up around a huge pile of firewood. Behind her, Clark and Lois were arguing over the tent instructions.

"It said it should be positioned THIS way, Smallville," Lois said, stabbing her finger at the piece of paper which now had many wrinkles on it.

Clark grabbed it from her. "No it does not!" he said, tilting his head and reading it.

Lois groaned. "Yes it does! Why do you think the tent fell down? You didn't DO IT RIGHT!"

"Actually, YOU FELL--"

"IT'S THIS WAY!"

"NO IT'S NOT!"

"It's neither," Chloe spoke up from behind them. Lois and Clark stopped yakking at each other and stared at her. "You're reading it upside down?" Chloe prompted.

Lois and Clark looked at each other for a while before laughing nervously. "Oooops," they said. Chloe rolled her eyes. In their frustration for each other, neither Clark nor Lois had realized that they were reading the drawings all wrong. With Chloe's help and mediating, they were able to get the two tents up within the space of one hour.

"Great! Okay, time to build a fire," Lois said, dusting her jeans. She took some sticks from the pile of wood and handed them to Clark. "Do your thing, Smallville!"

Clark's head snapped up to look at her. He looked at Chloe, and then back at Lois. Had she--? Did she--? Did she know about his--? "What are you talking about?" Clark burst, panic in his voice. "I can't make fire out of thin air! HA HA HA...you're funny, Lois!" he began laughing nervously. "What, you think I have powers or something?" He continued 'laughing.'

Lois raised an eyebrow at him. "Nooo..." she said slowly. "I meant for you to rub them together...you know, like the boy scouts?"

The relieved expression on Clark's face was almost comical. He hit his chest and took a deep breath while the girls stared at him. Clark took the sticks from Lois' hands as he tried to steady his breathing. For a moment there, he had thought Lois had discovered about his heat vision.

"Come on, Chlo," Lois said, turning to her cousin. "Let's get the food out while Clark here makes a fire the old fashioned way," she said, grinning at his glaring face.

As she and Chloe walked towards the house and into the kitchen, Chloe whispered, "Do you REALLY expect Clark to make a fire out of just rubbing STICKS? He'll take all night!"

Lois shook her head as she grabbed the food off the counter and tossed some of the packages over to Chloe. "Relax. I just thought it'd be funny to watch him ATTEMPT to do so. I've got the matches right here," she said, taking a pack of matches out of a kitchen drawer. "Let's go help him out shall we?"

Chloe sighed as she followed a laughing Lois back outside. "You just LOVE torturing him, don't you?" she asked. They were already out in the backyard, when Lois froze in her tracks.

"What the...hell..." Lois said, staring out in front of her. The matches had dropped from her hand.

Chloe looked at her cousin. "Why, what's wrong?" That was when she followed Lois' gaze and saw Clark sitting on one of the chairs, his arms crossed, and a satisfied smile on his face. A fire was crackling in front of him.

"Oh my gosh," Lois said, snapping herself from her moment of shock. "You mean it actually WORKED?"

Clark smiled up at her. "Yep!" he replied.

Chloe laughed as she joined them. "Well what do you know. You're the first person I've ever met who actually made a fire with just sticks," she said, incredulously.

Lois handed Clark some wire hangers. "What are THESE for?" Clark asked, looking confused.

"Be and gentleman and unbend them. We're using those for the marshmallows and hot dogs," she explained, before going back inside to take out the sleeping bags. Clark watched her go inside before easily unbending the hangers into long wires. Behind him, Chloe was crawling in and out of the tents that they had just pitched.

Lois came walking back outside, carrying two sleeping bags in her arms. "Hey, Clark, where's your sleeping bag?" she asked, as Chloe came forward to help her unroll theirs' inside their tent.

"Oh, I already laid it out a few minutes ago," Clark answered, busy with opening the packages of food on the lil table they had set up beside the fire.

Lois quickly took a peek into his tent and literally bit her tongue from yelling, "Even your SLEEPING BAG'S PLAID!" Instead, she smiled at him and said, "Oh...Cool."

They spent the next hour eating and engaging in easy conversation. It was then that Chloe had asked if they could play Twister. Lois enthusiastically clapped her hands and said yes, while Clark shrugged his shoulders. So Chloe brought the game out and laid the mat on the ground, taking the spinning board and the video camera in her hands. "I'll do the spinning!" she said, an evil glint in her eye. She spun the arrow as Lois and Clark got up from their seats. She pressed the REC button.

"Okay, Lois. Left foot, blue," she said. Lois put her left foot on a blue spot on the mat.

"Clark, right foot, red." Clark did so.

Pretty soon, Clark and Lois found themselves in a pretty complicated situation (Let's just make this simple: Lois was practically on top of a blushing Clark), that they began thinking that Chloe had planned the whole thing.

"Hey, are you SURE you're spinning that arrow, Chloe?" Lois asked, irritated. Smallville's face was so close to her own, that she was starting to feel really uncomfortable.

"Yeah, I'm starting to think you're just randomly calling out colors!" Clark added, looking over at a grinning Chloe. "When does this game end?"

"When one of you falls down," Chloe replied from behind the video camera.

"Well, in that case," Lois said, then turned to look down at Clark, "Clark, fall down."

"What?"

"Fall down!"

"Why?"

"So that we can end this game!"

"Actually, I'm starting to like the way we're positioned," Clark replied, giving her a mischievous grin.

"UGH!" Lois said. She then twisted a bit and purposefully fell on him, causing Clark to hit the ground as well. Clark laughed as an irritated Lois got off him and walked over to a smiling Chloe, demanding that they all get ready for bed.

They all presently trooped back into the house to brush their teeth, wash their faces, etc., and it was already quite dark when they had finished. The only light visible was that from the fire. Lois immediately took out a large flashlight and suggested telling scary stories. The other two agreed, and before long, they were seated comfortably in Clark's tent.

"'kay, Clark, you go first!" Lois said, taking one of his pillows and hugging it. Chloe made herself comfortable in Clark's soft sleeping bag, leaned on Lois' shoulder, and looked at Clark expectantly.

Clark looked at her and grinned. "You gotta be kidding right? Me? Tell SCARY STORIES?"

Chloe seemed to think about it for a moment, then turned to look at her cousin. "He's got a point, Lo. Clark wouldn't hurt a fly, much less scare us," she said.

But Lois was so insistent that Clark give it a try, that he finally agreed to the whole thing and tried to make up a scary story just to please her. He took the flashlight Lois handed him, and began, "Uhmm...Once upon a time...There was...an alien." He didn't know where it came from, but he decided to tell them his life story instead. With all the crazy things that had happened to him, he thought it would be scary enough. Besides...the girls had no idea he was really talking about himself, right?

So probably half an hour later, Clark ended his 'scary' story. He had renamed everything and everyone in it, and now he looked at his friends to see if they were freaked out yet. Instead, he heard a sniff. He quickly shined Lois' flashlight onto the girls' faces and found them wiping their eyes and noses. "Are you guys okay?" he asked, looking worried.

"Kent, you IDIOT, that wasn't a SCARY story, that was a SAPPY story!" Lois said, blowing her nose into her shirt.

"Yeah...I mean...Poor little Kalen. Will he EVER feel at home on earth?" Chloe sighed, looking at Clark, tears in her eyes.

"Yeah, will he?" Lois chimed in.

"Uh.." Clark blinked. "Maybe.." Clark was surprised. Why were they reacting like this? He didn't know why, and suddenly felt bad for ruining the night for them. Quickly changing topics, he shoved the flashlight into Lois' hands, asking her to tell them a scary story.

Lois promptly obeyed, and was pretty good with all the sound effects and facial expressions, that Chloe clung onto Clark's arm throughout the whole thing. Chloe's own story was much shorter, and she was finished in a matter of minutes, "Once upon a time, there was this weird guy. He ate kids for supper. He chopped their limbs up and stirred them in a huge cauldron outside. No one ever found out who he was. He killed approximately 700 children. The end." And she handed the flashlight back to Lois with a yawn.

Clark and Lois stared at her. "That was...tragic," Clark said, raising an eyebrow. Lois nodded her head in agreement, a "WTH" look on her face.

Chloe shrugged. "What can I say? I like sticking to the facts. Now can we please go sleep now?" she whined, looking in her cousin's direction.

Lois yawned as well and let go of Clark's pillow, handing it back to him. "Oh, all right. I'm pretty tired too," she said, crawling out of Clark's tent after Chloe.

Clark settled into his sleeping bag and let his head rest comfortably into the pillow Lois had given back to him. It still smelled like her, but he had no choice. With his super-hearing, he listened to the girls snuggle into their own sleeping bags and say their good nights.

"Good night, Clark!"

"Night, Chloe."

"Night Lois!"

"Good niiiiight, Chloe."

"Night, Lois," Clark called.

"G'night, John boy."

Clark chuckled into his pillow before quickly falling asleep to the scent of Lois' perfume. It had been a long day.


	5. Day 5

Chapter 5 - Day 5

- WEDNESDAY -

Lois grinned mischievously at her cousin, who grinned back. They both turned to look down at the sleeping farm boy before them. It was the morning after their camp out, and Lois and Chloe had woken extra early for some prank-playing. The girls had quietly unzipped the front of Clark's tent, and had stealthily crawled in to the sound of his light snores.

Lois and Chloe now knelt before his sleeping form, carrying along some canned shaving cream and a pillow feather with them. Lois' plan was to spray some shaving cream into Clark's hand, and then tickle his nose with the feather. This was supposed to cause Clark to raise the hand full of shaving cream, itch his face, and then...You get the rest. )

Chloe barely held her laughter as she recorded Lois taking Clark's hand and facing it palm up. She then shook the shaving cream can she was holding, and began spraying a whole mound of the white stuff onto his hand.

"I can not...believe...you are doing this..." Chloe whispered, smiling and watching her cousin at work. "Clark's going to KILL us."

Lois just continued grinning at her. "Okay, now hand me the feather," she whispered. Chloe quietly giggled as she obediently handed Lois a little, white feather. Lois had pulled this from out of her pillow during the wee hours of the morning, while she was still in the middle of plotting.

"Are you taping this?" Lois whispered, pausing above Clark's face. Chloe nodded the affirmative. Lois grinned evilly and was just about to touch the tip of Clark's nose with the feather, when Clark himself jumped up with a yell, wide awake and roaring. Before Lois could react, he had squashed his hand full of shaving cream into her face. Chloe began laughing as Lois screamed in fury.

"CLARK--" Lois was interrupted by Clark's arm around her neck. He had the can of shaving cream in his hand and was now in the process of spraying it all over her face while she struggled to get away.

- Meanwhile..Inside the House...-

Martha and Jonathan yawned as they walked down the stairs in their robes. Headed for the kitchen, they suddenly heard Shelby barking up a commotion in the backyard. They rushed to a window, and were just in time to see Shelby running headfirst into Clark's shaking tent. Screams, laughter, and barking was heard throughout the yard, as Martha and Jonathan stepped outside to see what was going on.

"CHLOE, HEELLLP!"

"GerONIMOOO!"

"AHHHH! YOU GIRLS GET OFF ME RIGHT NOW!" br 

"EEEEEEEEeee...SHELBY'S HERE!"

The screaming inside of Clark's tent heightened with the presence of the Kents' ever-faithful dog.

"YEEE-HAWWW! THIS IS BETTER THAN THE MOVIES!" Chloe's voice suddenly rang out. Clark's laughter was heard as Lois began sneezing relentlessly.

Martha looked at Jonathan, who shrugged. "What in heavens' name...Sweetheart!" Martha called. The tent immediately stopped shaking, and the laughter subsided. "Breakfast will be ready soon...What's going on?" she asked, sounding anxious.

A few seconds passed before the tent flap opened, and out came Shelby. He was covered in feathers and had a pillow in his mouth. Jonathan and Martha looked at him as he sat down beside them and whimpered. The Kents then looked up to see a chuckling Clark coming out of the tent, followed by a sneezing Lois. Chloe crawled out last, still holding the video camera in her hand. All of them were covered in pillow feathers. Chloe looked clean compared to the other two. Clark had shaving cream and feathers all over his face, neck, and hair, and was holding on to a pillow. Lois also had shaving cream all over her own face. Some feathers stuck out of her cream covered hair. It seemed that their little shaving-cream-squabble had turned into a pillow fight. They were all on the verge of hysterical laughter.

"Uhhhmm...Mom?" Clark started, a waver in his voice. He willed himself not to laugh, but a smile peeked around the corners of his mouth. He looked at Lois, who was standing beside him. She was trying hard not to burst into a fit of laughter also. "You can go ahead and start breakfast. I'll...just fix up the tent," Clark coughed. He then turned around to go back into his messed up tent, but not before hitting Lois on the behind with his pillow. Lois responded with a punch to his arm. Clark laughed as he crawled back into his tent.

"...So..." Chloe cleared her throat, camera still in hand.

Lois smiled at Martha and Jonathan. "Shall I explain over breakfast?" she suggested.

AN HOUR LATER

- Breakfast -

Martha hurried around the kitchen as she put some eggs, bacon, and pancakes onto plates. She only had two hours left before going to the Talon, and she still had to take a shower and get dressed. Lois had just finished explaining what had happened that morning in Clark's tent, and had already headed upstairs for her own shower.

Clark suddenly walked back into the kitchen. He had just come back from letting Lois have her turn in the bathroom, and a big smile was glued to his face. It was SO big, in fact, that it was cause for suspicion.

"What are YOU smiling about?" Chloe asked, helping Martha take out the milk and orange juice. Clark just smiled even bigger as he looked at her.

"I am a genius," he stated, as his mother and Chloe sat down with him to their breakfast. The ladies looked up at his smiling face and crouched their eyebrows. A few moments of silence passed before they caught on.

"Claarrrkk..." Martha began in a warning tone. Chloe began laughing and playfully slapped his arm, asking, "What did you DO?"

Clark grinned and shook his head. "You'll find out soon enough," he said, biting into his pancake.

As if on cue, a shriek was heard from upstairs. Lois came barging into the kitchen a few minutes later, wearing only her robe and holding a bottle of shampoo in her hand. Her hair was dripping wet, and a brown substance that looked like untouched shampoo covered her forehead. She quickly made her way towards Clark and hit him on the back of his head. "How DARE you!" she cried, as Clark tried not to choke on his food.

"Why, what happened?" Jonathan asked. In response, Lois opened her shampoo bottle and poured its contents all over Clark's pancakes. Everyone at the table, except Clark, gasped in surprise. Instead, he smiled up at a fuming Lois.

"Yum. Thanks, Lois," he said, and began eating his shampoo-soaked food.

"Clark, what are you DOING?" Chloe asked, looking shocked.

Lois pointed at Clark's plate. "SYRUP," she said, barely keeping her voice in check, "He put SYRUP into my shampoo bottle."

Jonathan snorted into his breakfast as Chloe and Martha dipped their fingers into Clark's plate and tasted the brown sticky stuff. Indeed, it WAS syrup.

"Clark, apologize," Martha immediately said, looking at her son. But Lois waved an arm around, going, "Nah, an apology won't be necessary. I know he didn't mean it." Here, she smiled at Clark. "You better watch out, Kent...you better watch out," she added in a hiss, before going back up the stairs.

Everyone didn't know what she was planning to do, but they soon found out an hour later when Clark came running out of the bathroom, a toothbrush stuck to his front teeth. Lois had put superglue in his toothpaste.

- Chloe's Apartment -

Lois sighed as she and Chloe walked out of the apartment and headed for her car. "Thanks again for letting me lunch here, Chloe. Sure you don't want to go shopping with me?" Lois asked, getting into the front seat.

Chloe shook her head with a smile. "No, thanks. I have PLENTY to wear to Lex's party. But, a word of advice," she said, bending close to Lois' open window as the car started, "I don't think you'll find anything interesting here in Smallville, know what I mean? Why don't you go shopping in Metropolis?"

"ALONE? I'd only go if you went with me."

"You know i can't," Chloe sighed. "I have three reports due by the end of the week. The school called today and said they'll be re-opening on Monday."

Lois rolled her eyes, "And since when has three reports stopped YOU? We all know that you have the super-abilities needed to type all three articles in ONE sitting."

Chloe laughed, but shook her head. "You assume too much. I REALLY can't go, Lois...But uhm..." Chloe's face brightened as a "sudden" idea came to mind. "Why don't you ask CLARK to go with you?" she asked, a finger stuck into the air in emphasis. A huge smile graced her face as she suggested this to her cousin.

Lois gave her an unladylike snort. "Oh, PLEASE. Take FARM BOY on a shopping trip?..THAT...will be the day. Nah, i'll just look through what i can here in Smallville. Could you name some shops that I could maybe look into?" she asked. Lois penned down all the stores Chloe suggested, and then with a thank you, began backing out of the parking lot.

"HEY, LOIS! DO YOU HAVE YOUR VIDEO CAM WITH YOU!" Chloe suddenly shouted.

"YEAH!" Lois yelled back. "WHY?"

"OH NOTHING..." Chloe said, waving as Lois drove away. "You never know when you might need it," she quietly finished. Then with a contented sigh, she went back into her apartment to first make a phone call, and then finish her reports.

KENT FARM

Clark walked into the house, his chores finished for the day. He was able to do everything much faster since Lois was out of the house...for the time being, he reminded himself. He had wanted to finish things up in the speedy way that he was used to doing, but he couldn't without facing suspicion from their SPECIAL visitor.

The phone suddenly began ringing just as Clark opened the refrigerator for a drink. Walking over to the counter, he picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Oh, honey, thank God!" Martha's voice was heard from the receiver.

Clark suddenly became tense and alert. "Mom, are you all right?" he asked, worry evident in his voice.

"Oh, yes, yes! I'm fine, dear. Uhmm..Honey..I forgot my jacket this morning...Do you think you could run by and drop it off at the talon?"

"..Your jacket?" Clark looked outside and saw Jonathan wiping the sweat from his brow. "Mom, it's really hot outside. What do you need your jacket for?"

"Well it's really cold in here and...I'm too embarrassed to ask someone to turn down the AC, so...do you mind?...Honey?..."

Clark blinked at his mother's nervous tone. Gosh, she must be REALLY cold, he thought. "Uh, okay. I'll be there in a few minutes. I just have to change and eat lunch," he said out loud.

"WONDERFUL! Thank you so much, Clark, i love you!"

"Love you too," Clark replied, as his mother hung up. He then looked at the phone weirdly before turning it off.

-..back at Chloe's apartment-

Chloe smiled as she spoke with someone on the phone. "Thank you Mrs. Kent," she said. "You're a GENIUS. Okay...Haha, will do! Thanks again, bye!" Chloe turned off her cell phone and turned a scheming smile back to her computer screen. "Now that THAT'S taken care of.." she muttered, and began typing.

TALON

Martha looked at the clock and then back to her customer. Quickly filling up another mug of coffee, she handed it to the next person in line. "Thank you very much," she said, accepting their payment with a smile. As she put the cash into the register, she wondered what was taking Clark so long. It had been over an hour since she had called him. She chose to look up then, and found her son himself walking towards her.

"Oh, thanks sweetie," she said, smiling and taking the jacket Clark had handed to her. "I hope it wasn't too much trouble." She gave two more mugs of coffee to a waiting waitress.

"No, it wasn't," Clark replied, leaning over the counter as if he had all the time in the world to talk, "Although it did have me wondering."

Martha looked at him a bit nervously before smoothly explaining, "Well, you know how the weather has been, Clark. All this heat in the afternoons, and then those chills at night. I wanted to be prepared."

Clark shrugged, "True."

Martha smiled at him as she finished the last of the orders at that moment. "So.." she began softly, looking at Clark's downcast face. "Lois is leaving on Friday."

"I know."

"Will you miss her?"

Clark suddenly looked up in the sympathetic face of his mother. "NO!" he automatically answered, but then felt a pit at the bottom of his stomach. Sighing in frustration, he voiced out his feelings to the only woman who could understand him, "Why is it that when I say I won't miss her...I feel like I really AM going to miss her? I mean it's not like I LIKE her..I DON'T! ARGH, see, right when I said that I don't like her...I feel like I DO."

Martha had all she could do not to laugh out loud. "'LIKE' her? What kind of 'like' is this, Clark?"

"Well...'like' as in FRIENDS."

"You ARE friends, Clark."

"Yeah, but nobody KNOWS that. So far, everyone thinks we hate each other to the core..."

Martha let a sigh escape her at his words. If only he knew how everyone thought how perfect they looked together. "Honey," she began, interrupting his confusing tirade, "It's all right to miss her. I know I will. And so will your father, and Chloe. Just because the both of you don't always get along, it doesn't mean you can't be friends in PUBLIC."

Clark sighed. "I know I'm being stupid," he said. "I'm sorry, mom. You must be really confused."

Martha smiled and patted his cheek. "I'm not confused at all," she said, knowingly. "Now, you go ahead and do what you have planned for the rest of the day. Walk around town, maybe and...think about what we talked about, all right?"

Clark nodded his head and smiled at Martha before going around the counter to hug her. "Thanks for being my shrink, mom," he smiled into her hair.

Martha just laughed and patted his back lovingly. He was so special...and he deserved someone likewise. "By the way, Lois is shopping around town," she called, watching Clark walk away. "If you see her...Tell her i said 'hello!'"

"Okay," Clark said, waving an arm at her as he continued his trek towards the front door.

"Walk around town okay?"

"Okay, mom."

"Because you'll never know who you might RUN..INTO..You know?"

"..Yeaaah.."

"You know window-shopping is harmless, you might even find something you like!"

"I'm going, mom."

"Remember to walk around town, honey!"

"GOOD-BYE, MA!"

..er...somewhere around town..

Clark walked aimlessly down the sidewalk, passing various stores on the way. His mother had told him to walk around town, and he was going to do it. Clark sighed as he kicked at a pebble on the street, thinking about what Martha had told him. Sure, it was obvious to the entire world that he and Lois disliked each other very much..But under that exterior, he felt that there was something very likeable about her. Her wit, her spunk, her sarcasm..her refusal of bowing down and submitting to anyone.. even her own father. She had guts that Clark had never known a woman could ever possess.

Of course, there WAS Lana. She was pretty good with all her karate and kung-foo, and her beauty sure added to her points...Clark suddenly stopped that trail of thought. When Lana had come to mind, it had felt almost foreign. Clark slowly came to the realization that he hadn't thought about her for DAYS. Usually he would wake up with Lana Lang in mind, think about her during the day, and go to sleep depressed over the fact that she would never be his.

Ever since Lois had arrived on the farm that fateful Friday afternoon, his thoughts were almost always occupied with HER. When he would wake up in the couch, he was reminded of how Lois was still staying in his bedroom. When he took his shower, he would remember the way she'd walked in on him (and the way he had walked in on HER). When he started his chores, he would remember her efforts in trying to help around with the farm work. And EVERY TIME he finished those chores...almost EVERY TIME...She'd hit him with one of her plans for the rest of the afternoon and drag him along with her to heaven knows where.

Clark suddenly stopped walking and sighed. Not sure where these thoughts were supposed to lead him, he looked up and tried figuring out where he was. He turned and found himself standing in front of a clothing shop. Looking through the glass, his eye caught a familiar face looking through the clothes.

Inside the Store

Lois grumbled quietly to herself as she searched through the last rack of women's clothing. She had already went to all the stores in town, and STILL couldn't find what she was looking for. Maybe she SHOULD go to Metropolis and check out the malls there. Sure it was a long drive, but she HAD to find something. Taking out her cell phone with the intent of calling Chloe and begging her to come along, Lois felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked up into the face of ..

"CLARK! ..What are YOU doing here?" she asked, looking startled. Not that she didn't mind the company. Spending time around Chloe and the Kents was making her feel different. When she wasn't around them, she felt lonely, lost, ALONE. She didn't know why, because she was already used to being lonely, lost, alone, etc.,..but everything had changed since she stepped foot in Smallville. Now, she found herself wanting to be around their family atmosphere, since her home practically never had one.

Clark shrugged, and the movement broke Lois' trail of thoughts. "I don't know. I saw you and thought maybe you'd like some company," he said.

Lois nodded at him for a few moments before his words registered in her mind. "Ohhh...OH! Oh, oh okay. Well, uh, you're just in time!"

"..Just in time..for what?" Clark inwardly groaned, but a smile crept to his face. He knew what was coming.

Lois grinned at him. "Clark...how would you feel about accompanying me to Metropolis?"

Some hours later...

SOME MALL IN METROPOLIS

Clark stared at all the stores lined up before him. People were walking around, large bags in their hands, and everything seemed so noisy. He had been to malls before, but the BIG, BIG ones like the one he was in right now took some getting used to. There were elevators and escalators and...and..whoaaa.

"Come on, Clark!" Lois said, making a beeline for the largest store on the ground floor. "LET'S DO SOME SHOPPAANNG!"

Clark groaned out loud before following her. "This is going to be a long...long...long day.." he muttered to himself. He spent the next hour watching Lois squeal over delightful girly stuff, purchase almost everything she thought looked good, video recording all the stores they went into, and handing all the bags over for him to carry. It wasn't that Clark was getting tired of following her around and carrying her stuff for her, it was just that he felt uncomfortable around chick clothing and accessories. So he decided to speak up.

"Lois, can we go home yet?" he asked, as Lois walked around the mall, looking for another store to pounce into.

"What are you talking about?" Lois said, turning her video camera off. "I still haven't found the right outfit for Lex's party!"

Clark cleared his throat and raised the five bags he was holding. "Oh, and what are THESE?" he asked, testily.

"THOSE are for my everyday wear," she explained, as Clark rolled his eyes. Lois smiled at him. "Oh, how inconsiderate of me. The whole time we were here, I was thinking about me, my clothes, my make-up, my things!...I forgot that we had to do some shopping for YOU!"

Clark's eyes became very large. "WHAT?"

"Come on, Smallville," Lois said, steering him into the nearest men's clothing store, "Let's get you fitted for a new shirt."

"Lois, I don't think i could afford--"

"EH, don't worry, it's on me."

"I really can't accept that from you!" Clark said, stopping to look at her. Was she crazy? The shirts in the store that she was leading him towards cost well over sixty bucks! And for him, that was expensive.

Lois pursed her lips and knitted her brow in the way Clark found adorable (note to self, Clark thought. kick myself when we get home for thinking that Lois looked adorable). "Clark," she said, sounding serious. "Do NOT make me beg. You KNOW you don't want me to beg."

"But Looois, I don't want you to spend that much money--"

"Okay, I'm getting on my knees..."

"AH, NO! Okay, FINE, I'll let you buy me a shirt!" Clark said, flashes of the scene she and Chloe had made during the fair coming back to him. It was worse than blackmail.

Lois smiled triumphantly as she and Clark walked into the pine-smelling store. They were greeted by a woman who worked there. Lois raised her eyebrows at the super short black skirt, low-cut blouse, and high stiletto heels she was wearing. She looked over at Clark, who seemed uncomfortable looking at the lady at all. Lois smiled at his behavior towards barely dressed women. It was so endearing. Wait, ENDEARING? Lois mentally slapped herself. Shut UP, Lane!

"Well, hi there, may I help ya'll?" The woman spoke, revealing a strong southern accent.

Lois focused on her heavily made up face. "Uh, yeah. We're looking for a shirt that he could wear to a formal dinner party. Do you think you could help us?" she said.

"Why, of course," the lady looked Clark up and down, and smiled in a seductive manner. "I'm sure I could help your boyfriend here find a--"

"BOYFRIEND!" Lois and Clark blurted out simultaneously. "Ew, no, no, no! He is NOT my boyfriend, never was, and never WILL BE!" Lois said, waving her arms around and chuckling nervously. "Yeah, what she said," Clark added, vigorously nodding his head.

The woman smiled. "Oh!..Well if that's the case," she said, her eyes back on Clark, but talking to Lois, "Why don't you go ahead and look around while I help.."

"Clark," Clark helpfully filled in, feeling rather nervous.

"Oh, that is such a sexy name," the lady continued, giving Clark 'the eye'. Lois loudly snickered at this comment, and Clark and his admirer turned to look at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Lois said, clearing her throat. "You actually find his name SEXY?"

"Why, I find EVERYTHING about Clark sexy."

"Oooooooookay!" Lois said, thinking if she heard the words 'Clark' and 'sexy' in the same sentence one more time, she would make for the nearest trash bin and throw up. "I'm going to go look around, all righty? Have fun!" And she walked away.

Clark watched her go, until he felt the woman take the bags from his hands and set them behind the counter. "By the way," she said, her accent catching his attention, "I'm Louise."

"Uh..Nice to meet you," Clark said, automatically offering his hand for her to shake.

Louise giggled, took his hand, and ran hers' up and down his arm. She leaned very close to him until she was practically on his chest. "It's wonderful to meet you too. Now how about looking for that shirt?"

Clark nodded almost reluctantly, suddenly wishing that Lois hadn't left him alone with Louise. He didn't know if he would be able to survive her flirting.

- Half an Hour later -

Lois hummed quietly to herself as she looked at all the neatly folded shirts on display. Suddenly, her eye caught a black one, and Lois took it in her hands. Unfolding it, she thought that Clark might like it. It looked like it was made out of silk, the way it shone in the light. Shrugging, Lois turned her camera on, thinking it would be fun to catch Clark trying on shirts, so she could show Chloe later. She walked over to the mirrors, knowing he would be there. The sight stopped her in her tracks.

Clark was standing on a stool, wearing black dress pants, and his white undershirt. Louise stood right beside him, slowly measuring his neck, his torso, and his arms with a measuring tape. Lois didn't miss the way she cast Clark flirtatious looks every time she looked at him. Rolling her eyes, and feeling more disturbed than she knew she should be, Lois walked towards them and arrived just in time to hear Louise admire Clark's...uh..buffness.

"Oh my, Clark!" Louise breathed, running her hands over Clark's muscular arms. "You have SUCH a great body..How many times do you work out a week?" Lois' eye almost twitched at the sound of that woman's southern accent.

"Uh...I don't work out," Clark replied, looking uncomfortable.

"Are you sure?" Louise laughed. "Why you're..you're absolutely perfect!"

"Why, thank you!" Clark smiled, loving the attention.

"UH, EXCUSE ME! Miss? Miss! WE NEED HELP OVER HERE!" a voice suddenly sounded from the front of the store. Louise looked in that direction and found two customers waiting to be helped. She sighed and looked at Clark.

"Oh, i'm sorry, darlin'. I have to go and see what they would be wantin'. Don't you go away..sexy!" she said, smiling and touching the tip of Clark's nose with her finger. She then walked away to handle the men waiting for her.

"Well, well, well..."

Clark turned to the sound of another woman's voice, just as he was getting off the stool. Lois walked towards him, her arms crossed. "Looks like you were having fun,...sexy," she added, looking over at Louise, and then back at him.

Clark couldn't stop the smile that appeared on his face. "Lois.." he began.

"Oh, no, no, I understand.." Lois said, walking closer to him. "I mean, after all, who could resist the grown-up goods of..what'sherface."

"Louise."

"Ah! Louise!" Lois said, sounding like he had just committed a cardinal sin in learning Louise's name.

Clark sighed as Lois continued to give him a look that was making him feel really guilty for some reason. "Look, Lois," he tried again. "You know as well as i do, that i am not attracted to the likes of her."

"Uh-huh..You were flirting with her."

"I was not! I was just answering her questions about my exercise routine! That's all," Clark said, growing red in the face.

"Oh!" Lois said, stepping closer to him. "And i suppose you just had to let her feeeell yur muuuh-scles TOOoo!.." she said in mock imitation of Louise's southern accent, running her hands up and down Clark's arms the way Louise had done earlier.

Clark grinned at her. "Are you jealous?"

Lois backed her face away from him. "Jealous?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Of YOU! I don't THINK SO!"

Clark smiled but before he could state the contrary, Lois shoved the black shirt she had picked out for him and made him put it on. As she unconsciously helped him button up the front of his shirt, Lois felt his eyes on her. She looked up into his face. He was smiling one of those weird smiles again.

"Stop looking at me like that, Kent," she growled.

"Why?" Clark asked, still smiling.

"Because it makes me feel uncomfortable!" Lois snapped in return.

"You're helping me put on my shirt," Clark observed, watching Lois' fingers finish the last of his buttons. He had given up long ago to help, and had let her take charge. Besides, the feel of her fingers slightly moving down his chest had the most profound effect on him.

"Yeah, so what?" Lois asked, her voice crabby.

"You're jealous, aren't you?"

Lois looked into his smiling eyes. "No. I. Am not. Now look in the mirror and tell me if you like it," she said, turning her video camera on, and focusing it on him. Clark stopped looking at her long enough to glance at the mirror. His eyebrows rose at the image he saw there. "Wow.." he said, putting his hands in his pockets. "I look different." He then began posing in front of the mirror like some GAP model. "So, Lois..what do you think?" he asked, running his hand through his hair and modeling for the camera.

Lois bit her lower lip in order to stop the smile that threatened to break through. "I think you look ridiculous," she said.

"What about this?" Clark gave her one of those model inspired, bad-boy/I-want-you looks.

Lois raised an eyebrow, camera in hand. "What IS that?"

"It's my sexy look!"

"OH PLEASE!"

"Come on, say it. You think I look sexy, don't you?" Clark grinned, nodding his head at her.

"Ew, STOP SAYING THAT WORD! It's giving me the creeps!"

Lois began laughing as Clark continued his little performance. "Okay, okay," she said, making him take his shirt off. She wanted to get out of there before Clark got it into his head to sing "I'm Too Sexy" in front of the whole store. "You look hot already! Ya happy? GEEZ! Now hand it over so I can take it over to lover-gal Luh-weeze."

"Thanks, Lois," Clark said, smiling and looking seriously into her eyes.

Lois snorted and shrugged her shoulders in order to hide the blush creeping into her face. "No problem. Besides, i couldn't have you going to the dinner party wearing PLAID. Lex would never forgive me." She took the shirt from Clark's hands and strode towards the front to pay for it. "STOP LOOKING AT ME, CLARK!" she called over her shoulder.

Clark grinned to himself. It seemed that he had found a new way to annoy her.

- Inside JCPenny or something like it..-

Clark followed Lois into the perfume section, watching her spray some into the air, sniff it, then withdraw her nose, saying, "Ew, no!" Suddenly, she turned to Clark and presented him with a blue bottle. "Smell this," she ordered, and sprayed it in front of him.

Clark sniffed, "I can't smell it!" Lois sighed and tried again. Clark bent over and tried catching the whiff of perfume, but his nose couldn't find it. "Where is it?"

"ARGH, SMALLVILLE!" Lois said, spraying it once more into the air. This time, Clark was finally able to catch the smell, and announced with a grimace, "That was horrible."

Lois laughed. "That's what I thought. Now, be a good boy and help me find a perfume to get Chloe. There's so many to choose from."

They spent the next half hour taking various bottles, spraying them into the air, sniffing, and laughing over the yucky smelling ones. The whole perfume aisle was soon reeking of mixed smells and odors that some people passing by found repulsive. Lois and Clark didn't seem to mind, as they continued spraying more perfume into the air and testing them.

Clark sighed after some time. "Lois, why don't you just give her some of YOUR perfume?" he asked.

"MY perfume?" Lois said, waving her hand in front of her, trying to dispel the scent she had just sprayed. "Why?"

"Well, it sure smells much better than all of these," Clark replied without thinking. He soon realized his mistake the moment Lois turned a smiling face towards him.

"Have you been...SMELLING me?" she asked, grinning almost evilly.

"Er...no."

"Then how would you know what i smelled like?"

"Be..cause...my whole ROOM smells like you. It's not like i can't AVOID it," Clark lied.

Lois laughed. "Sure," she said, "And for your information, I don't use perfume."

"You don't?"

"Nope."

"Oh."

They stood for a while in awkward silence, until Lois decided that she'd get Chloe nail polish instead. Clark breathed out a sigh of relief at the change of subject, and followed Lois out of the odor-filled perfume aisle and into the make-up section. While Lois looked at all the colors of the sets of nail polish, Clark noticed that they were standing right in front of the lingerie section. Feeling extremely uncomfortable, he looked away. When he looked down to see what Lois was doing, he saw her holding his hand and painting a bright red stuff onto one of his nails.

"LOIS WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Clark yelled, taking his hand away from her and panicking. His thumb nail was covered in bright red nail polish.

"What?" Lois asked, pointing to the nail polish bottle. "It said 'blood red.' I wanted to see if it really WAS blood red."

"LOIS!"

Lois sighed. "Relax, okay? Just be thankful I didn't paint your thumb PINK." She took a piece of cotton from the counter, reached out for his hand, and began rubbing the offensive nail color off. As soon as she was finished with him, however, she looked up and eyed the lingerie section. "OOOOOH! Maybe I should just get her a new bra!" she said, walking towards it.

Clark groaned at her change of interest. "Lois, will you just make up your mind about what to get Chloe? And may i remind you that you STILL have to find yourself an outfit for Lex's party. We've spent (he checked his watch) exactly THREE HOURS just walking around--"

"Hey, look!" Lois interrupted him. "What do you think?"

Clark looked at her. She was standing in front of him, holding a lacy black nightie. It was extremely short and was practically see-through. Lois pushed it into his face. "Ugh," Clark said, poking a finger at the transparent material. "What IS that?"

"How dumber can you get? It's something a lady wears on her honeymoon, of course! I think it looks adorable," Lois sighed, running a hand over the soft fabric.

"I think it shows too much skin."

"Well, DUH, Kent, that's what it's FOR!" Lois rolled her eyes, and Clark followed suit. Still in the middle fo admiring it, she pressed it against her body and smiled innocently at Clark. "Do you think it'll look good on me?"

Clark blinked and turned a light shade of pink. "W-what?"

"I said," Lois repeated impatiently, "Do you think it'll look good on me?"

Clark raised his eyebrows, and tried looking away. "I believe that's a question for your husband," he said, nervously scratching his neck and wanting very much to get out of there. Being surrounded by lacy bra's and panties was starting to REALLY freak him out.

"Aw, come on, Kent! That fortune teller said we were going to get married anyway! I'm KIDDING, I'M KIDDING," she added laughingly, receiving a menacing look from her companion. "Come on, just tell me what you think."

"Lois--"

"You know I'd ask Chloe if she were here, but since she isn't, I'm stuck with you. Now spit it out. Will it look good on me or not?"

Clark put his hand on a bra rack and looked Lois in the eye, answering with a calm, yet irritated voice, "Yes. You will look good. You will look PERFECT. Okay? Now can we get out of here? It's not like you have a boyfriend to show that off to, anyhow."

"Who said i didn't have a boyfriend?" Lois said, twirling around playfully.

"...Do you?"

"I dunno, maybe."

Clark stared at her grinning face. Lois was still looking at the lacy nightie in her hand, smiling up at him now and then. She was kidding. She had to be.

"What?" Lois asked, glancing at his shocked face. "So it's not normal for a college girl like me to hook up with some guy i met at a bar?"

Clark continued to stare at her. When he was finally able to speak, he said, "Lois, you know as well as I do, that if you just randomly...have..have...YOU KNOW...with men you hardly know, well it's D-DANGEROUS a-and, you don't want to have a...coughDISEASEcoughcough..I mean come on, you know you're better than that, right? Lois!"

Lois just grinned at him and slowly put the nightie back to where she got it from. "Look who's jealous now," she sang in a teasing voice, crossing her arms over her chest and looking Clark up and down.

"JEALOUS! I'm just warning you of the consequences if you--"

"Simmer down, Smallville. I'm not going to do anything anytime soon. Besides, I think we've spent too much time here.." She tapped her chin in thought.

Clark sighed in relief as Lois started talking about checking out another store. FINALLY they were going to get out of that accursed place.

"Ooh, look! A THONG!" Lois suddenly squealed, pointing towards another rack. She was about to reach out for it, when Clark took hold of her arm, bellowing, "OKAY, THAT'S IT, WE'RE OUTTA HERE!" and dragged her out of the department store.

Lois laughed as Clark led her aimlessly around the mall. "Clark, where are we going?" she asked.

"As far away as we can from that...that.."

Lois started laughing again, but said, "Hey, look. If you're going to be my tour guide for the rest of the day, can you lead me into that one store over there that says 'La Belle'?"

Clark caught her drift and let go of her hand. In his haste to depart from the lingerie section, he hadn't noticed that he'd been pulling her around for the past few minutes.

"Whew! Thank you! I was wondering when i'd get that back," Lois said, wiping her hand on her jeans. When she turned to look at Clark again, she suddenly felt sorry for him. The poor guy looked so tired. He probably wants to go home, but he's too scared to ask me again Lois thought. I know what I'll do! I'll let him go wherever he wants to go, while I finish my shopping! That should cheer poor Smallville up! Mentally applauding herself for such a BRIGHT idea, Lois smiled at Clark. She took the many shopping bags from his hands, slid them over her own arms, and said, "You know what? Since you've been SUCH a good shopping buddy? I've decided to let you go wherEVER you want to go around this mall, while I finish up."

Clark raised an eyebrow. The way Lois had said it reminded him of his mother giving Shelby one of his rare doggie treats. The only thing missing was Lois patting him on the head. "Yippee," he replied, without feeling.

"Aren't you happy?"

"I'm bursting with joy."

"GREAT! Meet you back here at this bench in an hour, okay?"

And with that, Clark watched her skip away towards La Belle. Stretching his arms out in utter freedom, he let out a loud, "YES!" which of course caused some people to look at him queerly. Clark sat back down on one of the mall benches and let his legs rest for a while. He didn't feel like walking around the mall, since he'd probably just get lost. At first, he tried to watch all the people walking and talking all around him. The volume of their voices echoing all over the large building was enough to give him a migraine.

He was just standing up to maybe walk around for a bit, when a singular voice overcame the rest. It was soft humming. Tuning his super-hearing to hear it better, he realized it was Lois' voice. Clark sat back down and listened to her for a while. It was then that he remembered that the store Lois was shopping in was about ten yards away from the bench he was sitting on. Grinning to himself, Clark used his super vision and zoomed in through La Belle's bright windows, immediately catching sight of Lois' brown hair. She wasn't humming anymore, Clark noticed, but was busily searching through folds of clothing.

And so, Clark found himself spending the next hour just watching, and sometimes listening, to Lois. Whenever she found a dress or a shirt that didn't agree with her, Lois would make that disgusted face that Clark had learned to recognize over time. He chuckled to himself each time she sighed in frustration, and when she moved out of sight, he'd try tilting his head in hopes of finding her again. And while he was doing this, Clark's thoughts drifted to that place where he found himself ALWAYS drifting to these days: Lois.

She's rude his thoughts began. She's annoying, she's bossy, she's always finding ways to make life harder for me, and she talks too much. After negatively thinking about one side of Lois' character for a while, Clark decided to examine the other side. Memories of her brief hugs, her playful socking of his arm, her fond ruffling of his hair, and the affectionate smiles she sometimes gave suddenly made her "annoyingness" dissipate into a confusing mist. Clark looked up and watched Lois again. He had seen the look on her face when she had suggested that he take a break and roam around the mall for his own pleasure. It was a look of worry, tinged with guilt and a bit of pity. Clark looked down at his hands and remembered the way she had gently taken the shopping bags from him and carried them herself. She had cared. She had been considerate.

Now that Clark thought about it, everything Lois did was somehow considerate. Every plan she had proposed, every prank she had played, every scathing remark she had shot his way...Its main purpose was to...distract me! he suddenly thought. It was to distract him from the woes of his own little, self-piteous world of heartbreak and worries. Sure, Lois talked and acted that way towards everyone else, but she always gave an extra dosage of her 'charm' to Clark. Clark sighed at the realization that Lois had seen right through him. Though he had tried to hide things from the world, she was able to tap into it and see that he needed help. His mother must have said something, too, Clark thought. All this time he had thought Lois had come over to torture him, when indeed it was to help him live a little. And what had he given in return? Large amounts of sarcastic smiles and immense rolling of the eyes. I feel like an idiot Clark thought to himself.

Lois had seen through his mask. When he would be able to see through hers remained a mystery.

We shall leave our poor hero with his tortured thoughts, and take a look upon our feisty heroine. I know some of you must have been bored to death by Clark's excessive thinking, and have wanted for some time to see how the delightful Miss Lois has been faring in her hunt for a decent outfit. So with no further adieu...

Lois breathed out a sigh of relief as she walked out of the doors of La Belle. She had FINALLY picked out something to wear for Lex's formal dinner party. She had had trouble finding something formal and dressy, because...Well let's just face it she thought. I don't WEAR formal, OR dressy That was, unless she really needed to. Wondering where Clark must have walked to, Lois was just about to head for the their meeting place, when she felt a strong jerk on her arm. She looked down and found her purse missing.

"HEY!" she yelled, looking up and seeing a man wearing a hooded sweater run away with her purse. "COME BACK HERE! HELP! HE'S GOT MY PURSE!"

Lois unconsciously dropped her shopping bags and started running after the villain. "STOP HIM!" she screamed at intervals. A few people stopped what they were doing to join the chase, but still they couldn't get to him. Gosh, this guy's FAST! Lois thought, ignoring the commotion that had arisen around her. But she didn't care how fast he was. Lois was going to get her bag back even if it meant running her legs off. The man suddenly turned a corner, and Lois followed in hot pursuit.

Once having turned that corner, however, Lois skidded to a stop. The thief was already in the steely grip of none other than her beloved Smallville. Clark held Lois' purse in one hand, and kept the guy from running away with his other. He looked up to see Lois calmly advancing towards him.

Lois took her bag from Clark, said a quick "Thank you" and then began ruthlessly pounding her purse upon the hooded chap who had dared steal her bag. "TAKE THAT! pound AND THAT pound, YOU VILLAIN! YOU SCOUNDREL! YOU BIG! pound STUPID! pound IDIOT! WHAT KIND OF BRAINLESS JERK WOULD STEAL pound A WOMAN'S PURSE IN A MALL! AND IN FRONT OF EVERYBODY, TOO! OUTLAW! FELON! LAWBREAKER! pound pound pound"

This "outlaw", "felon", and "lawbreaker" crouched in fear, trying his best to defend himself from Lois' deadly strikes. Clark stood to one side, his hand still holding the arm of the thief. His eyes were on Lois, however, and there was an amused smile on his face. A crowd had begun to gather, and before long, a couple of security guards came walking up to them.

"What seems to be the problem here, ma'am?" one of the guards addressed Lois. But Lois was still too busy yelling and hitting the guy with her bag.

"CLARK, YOU TELL HIM!" she screeched, pounding on the poor guy some more.

Clark snapped out of his trance and faced the stern-faced security guard. Quickly clearing his throat, he said, "Uh...He stole her bag."

The guard gave him a curt nod, wrote something in a notebook, and began speaking to Lois again. "Ma'am, we'd appreciate it if you would stop hittin' the suspect so we can bring him to the police. Ma'am?" When this didn't work, the guard turned to Clark. "Sir, if you wouldn't mind gittin' ur girlfriend over here to stop hittin' the poor feller, I'd appreciate it very much."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Well, girlfriend or not, sir, we'd sure appreciate it if you would get her to stop, or we won't be able to get the handcuffs on."

Clark sighed and walked up to Lois, gently taking her arm. "Lois, you have to stop hitting him. Lois!" He ended up having to haul her away still shrieking and raving, while the security guards took hold of the moaning thief.

"...She's crazy...SHE'S CRAZY!" The poor, injured man yelled as he was led away.

"YOU BET I AM, YOU--"

"Lois, calm down!" Clark said, his arms still pinning her arms to her sides. Lois took in deep breaths of air before finally returning to her calm, complacent self.

"I'm okay," she breathed. "I'm okay...Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale..." br 

"Geez," Clark said, putting hands to his hips, grinning, and breathing heavily as well, "Why the heck did you have to do all THAT for?"

Lois stared at him as if he were stupid. "He BROKE. My PURSE," she said, pointing to the broken handle.

A moment of silence passed, before Clark burst into uncontrollable laughter, which rang throughout the mall. He would have continued laughing if Lois hadn't patted him on the shoulder and reminded him that they still had to retrieve the shopping bags she had dropped during the chase.

As they walked back to get them, Clark continued chuckling to himself, saying, "You...are aMAZING."

Lois grinned up at him, "Why, thanks! I try." Suddenly she stopped. "Man, going after that guy sure got me tired. I think I need some caffeine. Hey, how would you like a warm cup of coffee? It's on me!" she said, looking up at a still sniggering Clark.

"Sure!" he managed to get out. "Why don't you go ahead and order at the cafe while I go get your stuff?"

Lois nodded her agreement and they separated. Lois towards Starbucks, and Clark to the far-off place where Lois had dropped her bags. As Lois entered the quiet cafe, however, she noticed that a couple of guys had followed her there. Shrugging off a feeling of suspicion, Lois stood at the back of line and waited. Suddenly, she felt someone breathing down her neck. She turned around and saw a couple of guys grinning down at her.

"Hey," one of them said, smiling mischievously at her.

"..Hi," Lois replied, shaking her head and turning back to the line before her, which had started to move on. Yeesh, some guys, she thought.

"What's your name?" One of them asked, as Lois moved down the line.

Lois turned around, gave them a sarcastic smile, and snapped back, "I think that's none of your business."

The two laughed and began jeering, "Whoooaa...Come on, hot stuff. No need to be all mean."

"If i'm being mean, then it's probably YOUR fault," Lois replied, rolling her eyes. She then proceeded to give the cashier her orders. Being told that she would have to wait a few moments, Lois inwardly groaned towards the pricks who wouldn't stop bothering her.

"Aw, come on, lady, can't we buy you drink?" "We just want to get to know you." They continued to try convincing her to go with them. Lois, extremely annoyed, just sent smart and stinging replies their way, but this just seemed to encourage them. "Come on, baby..you know you want to go with us," one of them actually had the nerve of taking Lois' arm as she was about to get the two cups of coffee waiting on the counter.

Lois jerked her arm back, almost spitting with rage. "How DARE you touch me, you--"

"Lois? What's going on?"

Lois and her "admirers" turned to see Clark walking towards them, shopping bags in hand. His eyebrows crouched together as he took in the scene before him.

"Hey, back off, dude," one of the guys said, stepping towards Clark in a threatening way. The other crossed his arms as they both blocked Lois from Clark's sight. "WE saw her first," the dummy announced.

An idea suddenly sparked in Lois' mind, and she suddenly grinned. "Hey, honey!" she brightly said, shoving her way towards Clark. She kissed him on the cheek. "What took you so long? The coffee was getting cold," she swiped the two cups of coffee off the counter and shoved one of them into a shocked Clark's hands.

The guys suddenly backed off. Their gaze switched from Lois, to Clark, and then back to Lois. "You mean..he's your...? You going out with him?" they stuttered.

"Yes. Isn't that right, sweetie?" Lois' voice took on a loving tone as she linked her arm into Clark's own and leaned against him, smiling sweetly into his face. Clark, who had gone completely rigid, just stared at her.

"Hey, man," one of the jerks whispered to his companion, "Wanna take him on?" His friend eyed Clark and replied, "Nah, man...This guy's buff." Then they both cleared their throats, looked at Lois, and said, "So, uh...So he's your boyfriend...eh?"

"Yeah, that's right," the fire had returned to Lois' eyes, "And if you don't leave RIGHT NOW, my boyfriend is going to KICK YOUR ASS!"

The guys began walking towards the door, eyeing Clark as if he was going to suddenly pounce on them or something. "No, uh..No need for that, dude. Uh, sorry for hittin' on your girl, man." And with that, they were gone.

"YEAH, GO AWAY AND NEVER RETURN, SICKO'S!" Lois said, waving an arm them. She then laughed to herself and looked at Clark, who was staring at her as if she had gone insane. "Well, come on Smallville, let's go sit down!" she said, as if nothing had happened. She took Clark by the arm and led him towards one of the tables.

As soon as they had sat down with their coffee, Clark blurted, "What just happened?"

Lois shrugged as she sipped from her cup. "Oh, that. A couple of jerks were trying to get me to go with them, but of course THAT wasn't going to happen. Good thing you walked in, or i don't know HOW i would have gotten rid of them," she replied nonchalantly.

"You could have just hit them sore with your handbag," Clark pointed out.

Lois nodded thoughtfully as she held the cup in her hands. "True... But it would have caused another scene, and I didn't want to embarrass you again. Ugh," she suddenly said, grimacing. "This needs more sugar."

Clark watched Lois get up and complain to one of the waitresses. When she got back, Clark said, "You kissed me."

"Oh, sorry about that. You may begin rubbing off what germs my unworthy lips left on your cheek. I have some sanitizer here if you want some," Lois said, reaching into her purse.

Clark waved a hand around and grinned, "Nah, that's okay. I don't hate you THAT much."

Lois rolled her eyes. "Well, that's good to know. Now you can add this to your long list of relationships, naming it as the shortest one you've ever had," she said.

Clark laughed. "The list isn't that long, really," he said, staring at his cup.

Lois suddenly became serious. "Lana?" she gently asked. Clark smiled faintly, and fell silent. Lois noticed this and took pity. "..but if you want to talk about it.." she started, shrugging her shoulders.

Clark shook his head. "I'd rather not," he shortly replied.

Lois sighed. "You know, Clark, if you never open up to anyone, all that drama you've worked up inside is just going to explode someday," she said. "So, come on, tell me about it."

"Lois--"

"SPILL."

Clark, seeing no hope for it, did "spill." He told Lois everything: from the first day of high school, to the day Lana went off to Paris. Most of it was just the same thing over and over again. Clark just took a rather long time telling it. "She kissed me...but it really wasn't her, it was this girl in school who could take any form she wanted because of the meteor rocks...And then, she kissed me again...But it really wasn't HER because she was affected from a flower that had some meteor rock stuff in it...And then I kissed her..and then she thought it was a mistake, so i had to convince her to go out with me. But anyway, we went out for a while. Problem was, uh...I got affected by some uh cough meteor rock, and it...kind of hurt her feelings...(insert more boring clana history here) and then she went off to Paris...got a boyfriend...and then..yeaaah..."

Lois, although she had been drinking her coffee and already had much caffiene running through her veins, was tempted to drop off at any moment. She listened to Clark's story, nodded her head in all the right places and tried to pay attention. As soon as Clark finished his story, all Lois had to say was, "Wow." She stifled a yawn. "You must hate all that meteor rock..."

Clark laughed. "You have no idea," he replied, smiling. He didn't get it. Talking about Lana was supposed to make him feel gloomy. But he wasn't.

"No offense, Kent," Lois said, leaning on her elbow."... but that has got to be one of the most confusing love stories ever told," she said. Clark nodded his head. He couldn't do anything but agree. "Look, from what I can gather from Lana's ways around you...She still likes you. But do you notice the pattern here? First, she doesn't like you in that way. And then she DOES like you in that way. And then she doesn't,then she does, then she doesn't, then she does,then.."

"Yeah, I get the point," Clark spoke up from his spot.

"So you're still in love with her, huh?" Lois asked, nodding her head and looking at him as if he were a hopeless case.

Clark's automatic response would have been, "Yes." But something stopped him. "I..I don't know.." he said instead. He looked down at the table, confused. "I just have this feeling that...that Lana will never love me. You know, REALLY love me. In fact, I don't think any girl could. I'll probably end up all alone."

Lois snorted. "Don't plan your doom before it happens, Clark. And come ON," Lois said, trying her best to comfort him. "Why wouldn't someone fall in love with you? You're cute, you're sweet, you're funny...(she paused and made a face)...I'm lying?"

Clark rolled his eyes, "Aren't you supposed to be encouraging me?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. Look, Smallville, ANY girl would be crazy not to go out with you," Lois concluded, nodding her head in emphasis.

"Fine, then would YOU go out with me?"

"HA HA HA! No."

"SEE?" Clark sighed, exasperated.

Lois shook her head at him, "But Clark, I'm different. You know that." Clark shrugged at her. Lois then stared at the ceiling and put a dreamy look on her face, "One of these days, Smallville, you're going to find your one true love and sweep her off her feet. You will look into her eyes and say, 'She is the one. She is the one i am destined to be with.' And you know what? She's going to love you back."

"I wish it was that easy," Clark sighed.

Lois smiled and Clark knew she understood. "You know what," she said. "I think it's time to head on home. It's a long drive from here and your parents are probably freaking out at how late it is," she said, getting up and checking her watch.

Clark nodded in silent thanks. She probably knew he wasn't ready to discuss any further on the subject. Again, he was touched by her consideration.

They were silent on the ride back home, for they were both in deep thought. They pulled into the Kent's driveway, got out, and entered the quiet home, noticing that Clark's parents were already asleep. Lois found a note from Martha on the kitchen table, informing them that if they were hungry, she had saved some dinner for them in the fridge.

Laughing, Clark and Lois realized that they still hadn't eaten their dinner. "How did we survive all those hours without any FOOD?" Lois asked, taking out some plates. Clark laughed. "We were too distracted with some uh...particular events that came up, that we probably forgot all about our stomachs," he said. They spent the next hour eating and talking in between bites. Clark felt so easy around her, so natural. For all he knew, she could have been part of their family all along.

After getting ready for bed, Lois walked Clark back downstairs to his couch and said good night. "You'll find her someday, Clarkie," she said, returning to the subject they had talked about in the mall. She yawned and began walking up the stairs. "She could be right under your nose, but you're just too darn blind to see."

Clark chuckled as he watched Lois sleepily ascend the steps in her green PJ's and trademark bunny slippers. "Thanks, Lois," he said, switching off a lamp and settling into the couch.

"Good night," Lois' sleepy voice called from the top of the stairs.

"Good night."


	6. Day 6

Chapter 6 - Day 6

- THURSDAY EVENING -

The Kent home was in a bit of a flurry that afternoon, due to the much anticipated dinner party being held at the Luthor mansion that evening. Jonathan and Clark made sure to finish their farm chores earlier than usual, and Martha asked another of the employees at the Talon to take over so she could go home and get ready. Lois prepared for that evening by sleeping in until lunchtime, annoying Clark about his tractor-driving skills when she got up, and driving into town to buy some things she said she forgot. Lois took over both the bathroom AND Clark's bedroom when she got back, so Clark had no choice but to get ready in the loft.

After putting on his black dress pants, black dress shoes, and the black, long-sleeved shirt Lois had bought him the other day ("I look like some villain from a comic book," he laughed to himself), he quickly sped over to the house and into the kitchen. He found Jonathan sitting on a stool, already dressed up in a new charcoal suit and tie. Clark knew that Jonathan had been reluctant to accept the invitation to Lex's dinner party, but since Lois was so set in going, he had no choice but to come along. Wondering where Jonathan had gotten his obviously new clothes, Clark asked, "Are they ready yet?"

Jonathan shook his head, his elbows on the kitchen counter. "Nope. Lois warned me ahead that they would be 'fashionably late' and to not expect them any time soon," he replied.

"Yeesh. How long have they been getting ready?" Clark asked, taking a seat next to his father.

Jonathan checked his watch. "Hmm. It'll be two hours now. They started getting ready as soon as they came home from town..and that was when we were still cleaning up outside," he said, calculating the hours.

Clark rolled his eyes. "Women," he and his father said in unison. After chuckling and joking around for a while, Clark looked at Jonathan's clothes. "So, dad, when did you get that suit? I don't remember you and mom going out on a shopping date recently." br 

"Oh...Lois picked this out for me," Jonathan replied.

Clark blinked. "She did? How?..WHEN?" Jonathan explained that Lois had run into his wife while she was in town, and had forced Martha to let her buy a new suit for him, and a new dress for her. "She's tops," Jonathan finished with a grin.

"She's rich," Clark replied. "Where'd she get all that money? She keeps buying people everything!" He thought about their shopping trip the last evening. Lois had been like a shopaholic gone crazy, buying this and that for herself or for "Chloe", etc., heck she had even bought him the shirt he was wearing!

Jonathan shrugged. "You may not know it, Clark, but your mother says that Lois hides her money like a squirrel would hide his acorns. She's got a lot saved up, I guess...Believe me, your mother and I tried forcing her to return the suit and dress she bought for us, but she wouldn't hear of it...Said that we were depriving her of the 'joy of giving', and that she wouldn't ever come visit again if we didn't accept it." br 

"Dad!" Clark suddenly groaned. "Why'd you accept it?" br 

Jonathan laughed and shook his head at Clark. "Unlike some people in this household, your mother and I happen to like Lois. And we decided that if accepting her gifts was going to insure her future visits to the farm, we'd take it any day." br 

Clark stared at him, open-mouthed. "Dad.." he laughed. "You can't be serious." br 

"I am!" br 

Before they could further discuss on the matter, however, they heard someone come trotting down the stairs. "Here they come," Clark mumbled, smiling. "Cue fashion runway music," Jonathan muttered back to his son, who laughed.

They turned their heads to see only Martha coming down. She was all dressed up in a classy, velvet maroon dress that reached her knees and bared her shoulders. Her hair was done up in an elegant knot at the back of her head. As she entered the kitchen, Clark thought she looked beautiful. He glanced at his dad, who was practically drooling in the presence of his wife.

"Honey, where's my bag?" Martha asked, unaware of the looks her husband shot her way.

"He has it." "I have it." Clark and Jonathan said at the same time.

Martha smiled and took her bag from Jonathan. "Well?" she pouted. "Aren't you going to say something about how I look tonight?"

"You look beautiful, honey," Jonathan managed to get out, still staring at her. "You look great, mom," Clark grinned, rolling his eyes at his father, who looked like he was on Cloud 9.

"Thanks, sweethearts," Martha smiled, kissing both Clark and Jonathan. "Now, if you think I look great, just wait until you see Lois. She picked this dress out for me this afternoon, and said it would be lovely if we matched colors. Oh, honey, she looks absolutely gorgeous," she said, turning to her husband. She knew if she addressed this to Clark, he would just roll his eyes in an "I-don't-really-care" manner.

"I'm sure she does," Jonathan said, still moony-eyed, "But I bet she's not as gorgeous as you." Martha laughed as he kissed and hugged her.

Clark smiled and watched his parents. Their show of affection for each other never appeared cheesy. Of course, he would sometimes feel shifty and out of place when they began smooching (urk, who wouldn't?), and sometimes Jonathan would overdo it just to tease him. Nevertheless, it always had Clark thinking. Would he ever be able to experience the kind of love his parents so evidently had for each other? Would he ever be able to hold a woman in his arms the way his dad held his mom? Or was he destined to become a loner...isolated, alone, unloved, unwanted, and... Suddenly, Lois' words from the other night came to mind, "Don't plan your doom before it happens, Clark." Lois is right Clark thought listlessly. I have GOT to stop being such a pessimist.

"...We should get going now, or we'll be late," Jonathan's voice broke into Clark's thoughts. Clark looked up to see Martha walking towards the bottom of the stairs. "Lois!" she called. "Are you ready?"

"IN A MINUTE!" They heard Lois yell back. "...CAN'T...FIND...MY EARRING!..." A lot of shuffling was heard, accompanied by muffled noises of frustration.

"LOIS!" Clark yelled. "Hurry up, we're going to be late!"

"Patience is a virtue!" Lois sang in reply.

Clark rolled his eyes, and his parents chuckled a bit. They all decided to engage in light conversation for the time being. They were still in the middle of wondering which humongo room Lex was going to hold the dinner party in, when they heard Lois hastening down the stairs, her heels making a lot of noise.

It wasn't until that moment did Clark realize that he hadn't seen the outfit Lois had chosen to buy the previous day. He had all he could do not to stare. Lois was wearing a tight-fitting, maroon dress, the same color as his mother's. It was sleeveless, had a plunging neckline, and flowed out from the waist down. It showed her curves quite nicely. (I'll leave you guys to imagine what she looked like. Think sexy...but not over the top ) Her long, wavy hair cascaded over her shoulders, and her bangs were curled slightly to the side. A black shawl was slung over her arm, and she held a small purse in her other hand. Clark had to reluctantly agree with his mother. She DID look gorgeous.

"Ha! Found it!" Lois was saying, a triumphant smile on her face. She reached the bottom of the stairs and fastened a dangling, silver earring on her right ear at the same time. She then plopped her purse onto the kitchen counter and looked at the family waiting there.

"Soo...How do I look?" She said, twirling around in a circle for them to see.

"You look beautiful, honey," Martha smiled, kissing her cheek. "You look beautiful, Lois," Jonathan added. Shelby whined his approval.

"Thanks!" Lois said, smiling sweetly at them. Not noticing that Clark was the only one who hadn't paid her a compliment, Lois whipped the video camera out of her bag.

"Oh,no, not THAT again," Clark groaned out loud, slamming his hand onto the kitchen counter.

Lois ignored him. "Ladies and gentlemen," she began her commentary, after she had pressed the REC button. "Presenting the most perfect family in the whole of the United States, the KENTS." Martha and Jonathan looked at each other and chuckled, not knowing how to react as Lois circled them and made comments about their clothes.

"First, we have Martha Kent, who is looking exceptionally GORGEOUS this evening in her velvet maroon, Versace gown...Which I picked out by the way.." Lois added with a cough. Clark rolled his eyes as Martha laughed, saying "Honey, it is NOT Versace!" But Lois ignored her, "Next, we have Jonathan Kent, accomplished farmer and head of the household. He is looking as handsome and as classy as ever in his Giorgio Armani get-up--"

"Who's Giorgio Armani?" Jonathan asked, looking puzzled. "I thought you got me this suit from--"

"COUGHCOUGHCOUGH" Lois interrupted, "YES, it is GIORGIO ARMANI, and I picked it out as well." Then, she pointed the camera at Clark. "And here..." she said a bit shortly, "we have Clark Kent. I chose his outfit, too." And she turned the camera off.

"HEY!" Clark protested.

"What?"

"Aren't you going to say how devilishly handsome and good-looking I am tonight?"

"HA! In your dreams, wannabe," Lois snorted.

Martha chose that moment to put in that it was getting late, and that it was time to get going. "Okay, we'll see you there! I'll just take Clark in my car!" Lois said, waving as they left. As soon as the Kents were gone, Lois turned back to Clark. "Look, calm down, okay? I couldn't video tape you looking like THAT!"

Clark frowned at her, confused. "Looking like what?"

"All buttoned-up and proper!" Lois sighed, putting her video camera on the counter. She then began unbuttoning the first three buttons on Clark's shirt. She tried folding it back so it showed some of his chest.

"I thought it was SUPPOSED to be all buttoned up and proper," Clark said, watching her unbutton the cuffs of his sleeves as well.

"Listen, Smallville," Lois began impatiently, as she began rolling his sleeves up until they reached his elbows. "You looked like you were going to SUFFOCATE when I came down...You have to show some SKIN if you wanna attract the ladies!" She moved to his back.

"But I don't wanna attract the ladies," Clark said, sounding uncertain. "What are you doing?" Lois was running her hands over his back and shoulders, and it tickled. Clark tried turning around to look at her, but Lois stopped him and continued sliding her hands down his back.

"Lois--"

"I'm smoothing out your shirt! It's all wrinkled back here. Now stop turning around so I can fix it!" Lois ordered. Clark did so and waited for her to finish. As soon as she was done, Lois teasingly poked a finger to Clark's side, which caused him to jump and look at her.

"There! You look formal yet stylish," Lois grinned and took out her camera again. "Now, finally," she began recording, "Here we have Clark Kent..Smallville's favorite do-gooder farm boy. Thanks to the fashion sense of ME he now looks much better than he did before."

Clark grinned. "...And...?" he said, smiling into the camera, obviously waiting to hear more.

Lois blinked. Fine, she'd humor him. "And, uh...He looks great."

"...And?"

"...Handsome and dashing?" Lois gagged.

"You forgot dark, daring, and..."

"Don't push it, farm boy," Lois said, turning her camera off as Clark laughed out loud. "Come on, let's get out of here. The party starts in half an hour," she reminded him.

"Don't you want me to take a video of YOUR outfit?" Clark asked.

Lois shook her head. "Nah, you can do that later," she said, putting her video camera away. "So. Are you ready, Mr. Kent?" she asked formally, taking her purse and swinging it over her shoulder.

"Sure, my fellow Kent," Clark saluted, holding out his arm and grinning at her.

Lois rolled her eyes as she took his arm and let herself be led out the door. "Please, do NOT remind me of that invite. Seriously, I don't know what Lex's secretary was thinking," she said, annoyed.

"Would it be so bad to be related to me?" Clark asked, looking down at her.

Lois shrugged. "Hmm, I don't know. The only GOOD thing about being related to you is your PARENTS. But I guess I could be your sister..or cousin..or something...JUST for tonight," she said, taking out her keys and walking towards her car.

"Why don't I drive this time?" Clark suggested, watching Lois open the car door.

Lois stopped and looked at him for a moment. "Oh, feeling 'gentlemanly' tonight, are we?" she asked, crossing her arms and looking at him up and down.

Clark smiled. "Well, since you've been driving ME around for the majority of this week, this is the least I can do," he explained.

Lois seemed to think about it. She finally shrugged and tossed Clark her keys. "All right. But one scratch on this baby, and your butt is MINE," she said, walking around and getting into the passenger's seat.

Clark laughed and got in as well. As he turned the key in the ignition, Lois looked out the window thoughtfully. Clark's behavior that morning and afternoon hadn't escaped her notice. He had been a perfect gentleman, pulling out her chair for her during breakfast and lunch, serving her himself, and actually making an effort to start a conversation over their meals. He would only smile each time she'd try to annoy him, and now he was driving her to the party. Why was he being so nice to her? If he continues this weird stuff until tomorrow morning Lois thought, I'll ask him about it.

Meanwhile, beside her, Clark was starting to regret suggesting to drive. The sweet scent coming from the woman beside him was enough to distract him from navigating their transport towards Lex's mansion. Lois' face was turned to the window, and Clark was grateful for that, or she would have caught him staring. It was already dark, but he could still make out Lois' profile. His new evaluation of her character added to her beauty that evening, and he couldn't help but stare every few seconds. Clark reluctantly tore his eyes away from Lois and tried to focus on his driving instead.

"You're quiet," Lois suddenly said.

Clark, who had just finished watching her, was forced to turn and look at her again. Not that he didn't want to. "So are you," he smiled.

"Is something wrong?" Lois immediately asked, looking into his eyes.

Clark blinked and made a turn on the road. "No..Why?"

Lois shrugged. "Nothing. I was just making sure. You've been so quiet since we've set out, and that's unusual...especially for someone like YOU," she added.

Clark chuckled. "No, don't worry. Nothing's wrong," but he fell silent once more. He couldn't help it. He didn't even know WHY Lois' presence suddenly provoked him into silence lately. Usually, they'd be in the middle of one of their petty arguments, and only Chloe would have been able to break it up. But Chloe wasn't there. It was only the two of them. ALONE. In a CAR, no less. And, oh my gosh. "We're not killing each other," Clark incredulously thought out loud.

Lois turned to look at him. "What?" she asked, an odd look on her face.

Clark shook his head and prevented himself from smacking his forehead. "Uh, nothing," he said, hoping Lois wouldn't ask for an explanation.

Lois raised an eyebrow. "O..kay..." she said, crouching her eyebrows. He was acting so weird that night.

"Oh, look, we're here," Clark suddenly said, relief in his voice. Lois looked up and sure enough, they had arrived at their destination.

LUTHOR MANSION

(dun, dun, DUN.)

Lois and Clark followed a butler down the endless hallways of the large mansion. They had been informed that Lex was hosting his little dinner party in one of the biggest rooms in his house, which the butler had called the "Ballroom." Lois and Clark snickered for some while, talking in whispers about how stinkin' RICH Lex was.

"He must have at least...fifty cars," Lois said, her heels clicking on the floor.

"Make that sixty," Clark corrected.

Lois stared at him. "Are you SERIOUS?" she asked, her mouth open.

"Actually, ma'am, he has a hundred," the butler in front of them suddenly said, "...Counting the ones he keeps in storage overseas, of course."

As he opened the large doors to what appeared to be the 'ballroom', Lois raised an eyebrow at Clark, who had a "whoa, no way" look on his face. "A HUNDRED?" she mouthed. Clark pointed at the back of the old butler before them and mouthed back, "That's what he said." That was when the butler stopped, turned around, and looked at them.

"Your invitation, please," he said stiffly, reaching out a gloved hand.

Clark blinked. "Uh, actually, my parents have the invitation. They arrived here before us," he explained.

The butler took out a stack of cards from a pocket beneath his jacket. "Your parents' name, please?" he said, searching through the pile of invites in his hand.

"Jonathan and Martha Kent," Clark replied. This new butler of Lex's sure liked to "make sure" of things.

Clark and Lois waited patiently as the butler searched through his stack of cards. Finally, he took one out. Looking at Clark and Lois, he sniffed to himself. "Clark Kent?" he asked, turning to Clark. Clark nodded, wondering if the guy was going to ask for his ID. Instead, the butler turned to Lois. "And you are Lois?" he asked, reading off the invite. "Yes," Lois replied. The butler nodded once more, and turned to the huge room full of dancing and talking people.

"MR. - AND MRS. - CLARK KENT!" he bellowed, stepping aside and gesturing an arm towards the couple beside him.

Everything suddenly came to a stand-still. The people cheerfully conversing in the room stopped what they were doing and turned to look at a shocked and confused Clark and Lois. The couples on the dance floor also stopped dancing, and the string quartet situated in a corner of the room eventually ceased playing their music as well.

Complete...and utter...SILENCE...

"...What...the..." Lois began, but Clark took her arm in a warning grip, and just smiled politely to the inquiring faces looking at them. The music began again, and everyone returned to his or her own business, now and then looking at Clark and Lois, the words "them", "too young", and "married" swimming through their heads, no doubt. Clark quickly steered a fuming Lois towards the refreshments table, where Chloe was almost on the floor, laughing her head off.

"What'd you guys do?" Chloe asked, as soon as Clark and Lois were with her. She was practically wheezing with laughter in her flowing, turquoise-colored gown, "Get MARRIED without letting anybody but LEX know? Oh, that hurts!" She began laughing again.

Lois stamped a foot on the ground. "I knew that wretched invite was coming back to haunt me someday. I just KNEW it," she said, turning to Clark, who just shrugged helplessly. "This is all your fault, Kent!"

Clark pointed to himself. "MY fault! Why's it MY fault? How was I supposed to know that he was going to announce us coming in?"

"I don't know, but you should have done SOMETHING!" Exasperated, Lois turned to look at her cousin. "Stop laughing, Chloe!" she barked.

Chloe took a napkin and covered her mouth, trying to do as Lois had ordered. "...Okay, okay, okay...I'm fine..I'm good," she sighed, her laughs finally coming to a stop. "But really, Lois, it's not Clark's fault. That weird, old dude announced EVERYONE who came in. You'd think we were at the queen's banquet or something. "

Lois sighed and shook her head. "Man, Lex SERIOUSLY needs to get new help," she grumbled, taking the glass of punch Clark held out to her. "First his secretary...now his BUTLER..."

"Just thank God we know almost everyone in here," Clark said, sipping from his glass, "At least THEY know the truth about..you know...us." He began gesturing an arm between him and Lois.

Chloe nodded her head in agreement. "See, that's one of the downsides in being filthy rich," she added, feeling like Lois needed more 'calming down.' "You have so many people doing practically EVERYTHING for you, that you forget to look over and correct some things..like invites."

Lois rolled her eyes and grumbled some more over her cup. "Well, if Lex is so 'filthy rich', then why does he always wear that same purple shirt?"

Clark snorted into the punch he was drinking and made little noises that indicated that he was trying to stop the laughter threatening to break through. "Lois," Chloe said, but couldn't help smiling as well.

"What?" Lois asked, watching Clark hide his laughter from behind a napkin Chloe had given him. "It's true! Every time you go see him, the guy is wearing PURPLE!"

Chloe shook her head at her cousin, and began pouring herself some more punch. "True, that," Clark agreed, "Now that I think about it...He DOES always wear that purple shirt."

"See, I told you. He probably doesn't even have enough time to go shopping for himself," Lois sighed, shaking her head, "Now, THERE'S another downside to being rich. I mean, can you imagine his closet? Long racks full of nothing but black coats and purple shirts."

"Lois, stop it," Chloe rolled her eyes.

"He probably thinks that if he doesn't wear the same color every day, it'll bring him to financial ruin. You know, he's probably so superstitious, that he doesn't even WASH his--"

"LOIS!" Chloe muttered, as Clark started laughing again.

"I'm just saying, that's all!" Lois replied defensively.

Chloe "tsk"ed, "Okay, so he likes purple shirts. What's wrong with that? Besides, I don't think he'll be wearing purple tonight, it IS a dinner party.." She looked up and smiled. "... Oh look, here he comes now! And he's wearing..." Chloe stopped and stared.

Lois sighed as Clark began laughing even harder. "You're right, Chlo," she sarcastically agreed, "He isn't wearing purple. He's wearing...VIOLET." It was true. Lex was wearing a silky, dark purple dress shirt under a stylish, black coat. "Or is it...Lavender?.." Lois continued her observation, looking at Lex and tilting her head to the side. Chloe groaned, and pointed to Clark. She shot Lois a death glare that seemed to say "stop before he loses it!" But Clark, who had finally controlled his outbursts of mirth, just smiled an abnormally huge smile as Lex neared them.

"Well, if it isn't the Kents'," Lex grinned, after saying hello.

"Ha ha," Clark sarcastically replied.

"Hi, Lex. Great party!" Chloe greeted him.

Lex smiled at her. "Thank you, Chloe. My, you look beautiful this evening (Chloe blushed a deep red and murmured a soft, "Thank you.") I'm glad all of you could make it..Especially you, Lois. It's a good thing that this party was scheduled the day before you left Smallville," he said, turning to greet Lois. His eyes scanned her figure. "You look wonderful tonight, Miss Lane."

Lois smiled at him. "Thanks, Lex. Uh...You too...Nice shirt!" she finished, swiftly glancing over at Clark.

Clark's already huge smile grew even wider, and, fearing that Lex would sense something amiss, he quickly excused himself from the already chattering group. "Uhm...Uh...Excuse me, I'll be..I'll be right back," he choked out.

"Clark, are you okay?" Chloe asked, as he walked away.

"FINE!" Clark called back.

They all watched as Clark walked out of the room and shut the door behind him. As soon as he was gone, Lex turned back to the ladies, a worried look on his face. "Is Clark all right? He seems...distracted," he said, pointing a thumb at the door Clark had just disappeared through.

Lois shook her head. "Nah, I guess he just had too much punch."

"Yeah," Chloe shrugged. "Or maybe he needed to use the rest room."

Lex, Lois, and Chloe never found out what Clark did during those few moments of disappearance, but the servants did report hearing loud laughter ringing through the mansion's hallways and corridors that very evening.

Lex then began introducing the ladies to other wealthy friends of his. One of them was a short, balding French man, who was in possession of a dark, thick moustache. He reminded Chloe very much of Hercule Poirot. This French man, who was introduced as Monsieur Lenoir, quickly took a shine to "Mademoiselle Lane" and immediately asked her to dance with him. Chloe had to bite her tongue from laughing at the look on Lois' face.

"Er...Okay," Lois squeaked. She had no choice, since it would have been rude to say no. As soon as they had stepped onto the dance floor, Lex turned to Chloe.

"May I have this dance?" He asked, looking eagerly at her.

Chloe raised her eyebrows. "...Umm..."

"There's been a minor accident in the kitchen and I'm afraid dinner will be delayed for the time being. While waiting, I was hoping to dance with you," Lex explained.

Chloe shrugged her response, "Okay." and let herself be led to the dance floor.

Meanwhile, Clark had just walked back into the ballroom. He had finally calmed himself down enough to face his purple-shirted friend again. Shaking his head with a smile on his face, he scanned the talking groups of people in search of Lois and Chloe, when he spotted both of them already on the dance floor. Chloe was talking a mile a minute while dancing with Lex, and Lois was dancing with some short, old guy who kept talking to HER. The fact that Lois kept her lips tightly pressed, and her expression cold but polite, didn't seem to discourage the man. Lois quickly looked up and saw Clark watching her. "HELP!" she mouthed, rolling her eyes over her partner's head. Clark smiled, and stepped forward to do just that, when he ran into--

"Lana!"

Lana, who had almost bumped into him, looked up from her glass of champagne and saw Clark standing in front of her. She was wearing an elegant, golden dress that reached her knees. Her hair was up in a loose knot, and over-all she looked beautiful as always. "Oh. Hi, Clark," she said, giving him a half smile. She then began looking around the room nervously, making sure not to make further eye contact with him.

"Did you come here with anybody?" Clark asked, curiously looking down at her.

Lana shook her head. "Um..No. I came alone," she replied.

Clark suddenly felt sorry for her. She must feel lonely. "Well.." he started, shrugging his shoulders, "Would you like to dance?"

Lana looked up from her glass again and stared at him. "Oh... sure," she smiled, setting her champagne down on a nearby table.

Clark grinned as he took her hand. They began dancing as soon as they were among the dancing couples, but they did so in complete and awkward silence. A few minutes passed, and Clark, who couldn't bear it any longer, chose to speak up. "So, uh..How are you?" he cautiously asked.

Lana smiled up at him. "I'm fine," she shortly replied. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm great."

They fell silent again. Clark wondered at the awkwardness of the moment. Usually he'd be reeling with joy and crazy with bliss just to have Lana Lang in his arms for a few minutes. Now he felt like they were only being polite, and were only dancing because it was the courteous thing to do. Why was it like this? Confused about his feelings, Clark tried pulling himself together and tried to enjoy Lana's company.

"Lois is leaving tomorrow, isn't she?"

Lana's voice suddenly broke through Clark's thoughts, and he quickly looked into Lana's eyes. Her question slowly registered into his mind. "Oh! Yes, she is...leaving," Clark slowly replied, his eyes not meeting Lana's. As he stared into space, her words kept echoing through his mind, Lois is leaving tomorrow, isn't she?..isn't she?...isn't she?...

Lana immediately noticed the change in his demeanor, and faintly smiled. "You're going to miss her aren't you?" she softly asked.

Clark looked down at her, unable to speak.

-Meanwhile...-

Lois inwardly groaned for what seemed to be the hundredth time as her dancing partner drawled on and on about his wealth and possessions. "...I haf manee things, Miz Lane. I haf house in France..dwelleeng place in London, I haf mansion here in United States..And I haf lovelee vehicles..You like vehicles, Mademoiselle Lane?"

Lois looked down and saw Monsieur Lenoir looking up expectantly at her. Crap she thought. Did he just ask me a question? Lois shrugged and thought it was safe to answer, "Um..Yes?" She soon regretted it afterwards, for he began going on and on about the Jaguars, and the Mercedes Benz's he owned, and all the limo's...

"MON DIEU!" he suddenly gasped.

Lois looked down at her partner's exclamation. "Who iz DAT?" he asked, his eyes round.

Lois followed his starry gaze and saw Lana and Clark dancing a few feet away from them. "Oh, that's Clark Kent--"

"Oui, oui, your fake huz-band, as you told me," M. Lenoir said, waving a well manicured hand around impatiently,"..but who is the superb young thing in hiz arms, eh?"

"Oh! Well, that's Lana Lang, she's --WHOAAA!" Lenoir, who had been in the middle of twirling Lois, suddenly let go of her in hopes of greeting Lana, leaving his partner twirling around across the dance floor. She would have slammed into the wall or into a couple dancing nearby, if someone hadn't taken hold of her waist and righted her footing. Lois, still a little dazed, slowly looked up into Clark's worried eyes.

"Are you okay?" Clark asked, trying to ignore the rush of emotions that overcame him as he held Lois close to his chest. While dancing with Lana, he had looked up to see Lois' dance partner quickly advancing towards them, Lois herself spinning out of control across the dance floor. Muttering a quick apology to his dance partner, Clark had gone to her rescue.

Lois stared at him for a while, not saying anything. Suddenly, she exploded. "That LOUSY French man!..He..He...He just let GO of me like that without..without..Where is he, anyway!" Lois started turning her head both sides, her eyes in furtive search of the hated Monsieur Lenoir. She saw him already dancing with Lana, a smile on his face and talking fifty miles per minute about his "vehicles", "dwelleeng playces", and what not. The weird part was that Lana seemed to take it all in graceful stride, nodding her head and smiling at her new, twittering dance partner. At least he talked a lot more than Clark did.

Clark laughed as Lois gaped at them. "He's gone now, don't worry," he replied. He reached out his hand to brush away a strand of hair that had gotten into Lois' face while she was spinning. It felt so soft against his fingers. Almost like downy feathers.

"..Yeah, and he better STAY gone, that...that miserable CRETIN!..." Lois was saying, completely unaware of the way Clark was looking at her. "What TOOK you so long?" she said, suddenly rounding in on him.

"Me?"

"Yeah! I had to dance for a whole half hour, listening to some conceited French guy talk about stuff I couldn't even understand! You know, I bet Lex requires SUBTITLES when they do business. Ugh, now his accent is going to be stuck in my mind forever!" Lois put a hand to her forehead as if she was experiencing a heavy migraine.

Clark wanted to laugh again, but he chose not to. "Well..I'm here now, if that's any comfort to you," he said instead.

Lois looked up at him. She slowly nodded with a smile on her face, "Yeah...You are. Thanks, Smallville." Clark smiled at her. "Now, uh.." Lois continued, taking one of Clark's hands off her waist and putting one of her own into it, "We might want to start dancing before people start looking at us weird."

Clark looked around and agreed. They were standing in the middle of the dance floor while couples twirled and waltzed their way around them. Suddenly, he saw Lex moving off, Chloe's hand in his. Lois followed his gaze and saw the old butler whispering something to his master. Lex nodded, and the butler suddenly said in a loud voice, "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!"

Everyone stopped dancing or talking as the butler continued to announce, "Dinner will be served in ten minutes! If you would please take your seats.."

Lois backed away from Clark, her eyes already on her cousin. Chloe was waving at them from the other end of the room, and Lex was standing beside her. "Come on, Clark, I think Chloe wants us to sit with her and Lex on that table.."

Clark reluctantly let go of Lois' hand, which had been holding his before the butler's announcement, and watched her walk away towards Chloe. The other guests were already taking their seats on the round tables set up around the dance floor. Clark put his hands in his pockets and began walking towards the table that Lois and Chloe were waiting at. His parents had also chosen to sit there, along with Lana and Monsieur Lenoir. Clark sighed as he neared them. No matter. He would ask Lois to dance later.

"Oh, honey!" Martha got up from the table and quickly hugged Clark as soon as he arrived at the table. "I'm so happy for you!" She smiled as she kissed his cheek.

Clark eyed her, looking confused. "Uh--" he began, but was interrupted by his father clapping a hand to his back.

"Now, don't go on feeling guilty about the whole business, son. Believe it or not, we're not angry with you, OR with Lois," Jonathan said, nodding his head seriously.

"Yes, Lois has ALWAYS been like the daughter we never had, so we're totally okay with it," Martha agreed, smiling.

Clark looked at them for a while, and then noticed the teasing glints in Jonathan's and Martha's eyes. He quickly caught on, realizing what they were teasing him about. Argh, not again he inwardly groaned. Then an idea came to mind. His eyes lighting up mischievously, he took the seat next to Lois and put an arm on the back of her chair. "Oh, thank God, dad. It's not like we didn't care about what you and mom thought or anything.." He looked over to see Lois smiling at him. She had caught on as well.

"...But we didn't want a lot of fussing on our special day, so we decided to do it secretly," Lois said, turning from Clark and folding her hands on the table top. "We have Lex to thank for everything."

Lex's eyes grew rounder than they were before. "Wait--ME!"

"Yeah!" Lois said, looking at him as if he was stupid. "That's why you told the butler to announce us by our new names, right? We DID want to wait a little longer before telling anyone, but we understand your excitement," she said, shrugging.

"Don't forget Chloe," Clark put in.

"WHAT!" Chloe exploded from her spot, staring at Clark and Lois, her eyes almost as big as everyone else's.

Lois rolled her eyes. "DUH, you were my maid of honor, remember? You and Lex were witnesses! Gosh, you two SERIOUSLY have short term memory loss, I mean...it just took place this morning!"

Everyone at the table either gaped or stared, sometimes doing both. Lois and Clark watched them for a while, enjoying the feeling of power they felt they had. Smiles still plastered to their faces, Lois simply announced, "We're kidding."

The following reactions were comical. Lana burst out laughing, as Monsieur Lenoir (the french guy) beside her exclaimed, "Zut, alors! I eem confused, mon ami! Are you married or are you NOT, sir!" Chloe rolled her eyes and shook her head at Lois, Lex just stared with a smile on his face, and the Kents let out deep sigh's of relief.

"Do NOT...do that again," Martha said, a hand over her heart.

The next couple of hours was spent in easy conversation over a delightful dinner. Jonathan and Martha conversed with Lex, and Lana had her hands (and ears) full with M. Lenoir chattering away in her ear as they ate. Lois, Chloe, and Clark talked amongst themselves about random things. Lois even took her video camera out for a while and took a picture of everyone.

At one time during the dinner, Lois commented on how delicious some of her meat was. Realizing that Clark and Chloe hadn't taken any, she urged them to try some from her plate. Chloe shrugged and willingly leaned over, sticking her fork into Lois' plate.

"Oooh..Yum.." Chloe said, as soon as she had put her fork into her mouth. "She's right, Clark, it is good. Man, we should've got some! I guess it just looked so nasty with all that red sauce on it."

Lois laughed. "Well, looks can be deceiving," she winked. "Come on, Clark, try some."

Clark quickly shook his head, well aware of his parents' presence on the table. He didn't want to show bad manners in stabbing his fork into Lois' plate as Chloe did. He guessed it was okay with Chloe. They WERE cousins, after all. "No, that's okay Lois. But thanks anyway," he said, smiling politely.

But Lois shook her head. "Clark, come on, you can dig in. I've got loads of it here.."

"Yeah, try it Clark, it's reallllly goooood.." Chloe said, groaning as she chewed the last of the saucy meat in her mouth, trying to entice Clark into doing Lois' bidding.

When Clark continued to refuse, Lois rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation. "If MANNERS are all that's keeping you from trying this good stuff...and I know YOU, Kent..," she said, taking Clark's fork from his hand, "Then this will have to do." Lois used Clark's fork to get a large piece of meat off her plate, and held it out for him to eat. "Come on," she said, "Try it."

Though he protested valiantly, Clark was helpless to Lois and Chloe's strong urgings. He reluctantly opened his mouth and let Lois slip the piece of meat inside. From across the table, M. Lenoir whispered to Lana. "Are you sure zey are not married?" he asked. Lana just giggled in return, watching Lois feed Clark more meat from her plate. "Not yet," she joked, and they laughed.

"Who's ready for some dessert?" Lex asked, as soon as everyone's plates were cleared. A caterer suddenly appeared with a silver tray, which he set down on the table. Dainty bowls filled with what appeared to be pink ice cream were handed out one by one to the guests.

"I am so full, I don't think I could eat another bite," Lois laughingly complained, rubbing her stomach. The others around her were already digging in. Suddenly, her stomach began to ache. "Oh, boy," she said, placing a hand over her belly, "Ow."

"What's wrong, Lois?" Chloe asked, still in the middle of finishing her ice cream. She noticed the way Clark's head immediately snapped up at the sound of the words "wrong" and "Lois."

Lois quickly shook her head. "Oh nothing. I think I just ate too much," she laughed, rubbing her stomach.

Everyone continued to look at her, and Clark's eyes shadowed over with worry. "If you're feeling sick, I can take you home," he offered gallantly.

But Lois was already shaking her head and waving a hand around. "Oh, you don't have to do that Clark. I'm fine, really, it's just a little stomach ache--"

Chloe interrupted, "Lois, if you're feeling sick..." She quickly looked at Lex, who added helpfully, "Really, Lois, I wouldn't mind. If you aren't feeling well, feel free to have Clark take you home...I only regret not spending more time in your company before your departure tomorrow morning."

Lois stuttered, "Oh, but--"

"No but's, honey," Martha interrupted her. "You do have to leave early tomorrow morning ("I don't leave until after lunch!" Lois put in) and I don't want you feeling sick while you're on the road. Clark, take her home and the both of you get some rest, all right?"

Lois watched as Clark nodded and got up from his seat. She opened her mouth and tried to say something to reassure them that she was only feeling a BIT queasy, and that it was nothing to really WORRY about, when Lana said, "You know, you DO look a little pale, Lois. Maybe you should let Clark take you home."

"PALE! I'm not--" Before Lois could say anything more, Clark was helping her onto her feet and taking hold of her purse and shawl. Lex quickly went around the table and shook hands with Lois, telling her that he hoped she would feel better and that she would have a safe trip to Metropolis the next day. Chloe put in that she would drop by the next morning to see her off before she left.

So after some hurried but sincere thanks were exchanged, Clark led an unsettled Lois out of the room. A soon as they disappeared out the door, all the members occupying Lex's table sighed in unison. They let out faint chuckles and exchanged understanding smiles.

- KENT FARM -

"Was it just me, Clark, or was everyone suddenly so intent in getting rid of my company tonight?" Lois asked, as their car slowly pulled up the driveway. Her stomach was no longer in knots and she was feeling much better. Lois began feeling guilty for worrying everyone during dessert. I should have kept my mouth shut she thought, mournfully.

Clark chuckled beside her. "No. I think they were genuinely worried," he replied, quietly adding, "...I know I was." He hadn't meant for Lois to hear the last part of his sentence, but she did. Lois turned to look at him, a faint smile on her face. Instead of making a biting comment about how he didn't have any business worrying about her, she chose instead to say a sincere, "Thanks, Clark." Clark turned the car off and looked at her. Lois looked back. They stared at each other in silence for a full minute, but to them it seemed an eternity. Neither knew what was going on, much less what the other was thinking.

Clark was the first to break eye contact, taking out the keys and chuckling, "Well, I did have to make sure you didn't get sick. It would have extended your stay here on the farm, and we wouldn't want THAT to happen, now do we?" He tossed the keys to Lois, who caught them. Even as he said those words, he knew he was lying. He didn't know why, but he DID want Lois to stay. He wanted her to stay almost as bad as he had wanted her to leave the day she had arrived.

Beside him, Lois couldn't help but feel a bit hurt. She knew Clark was joking, but she found herself wanting to know what he thought of her "extending" her stay on the farm. She looked down at her keys, smiled, and said, "Nah..We wouldn't want that to happen." She then opened her car door, and was about to get out, when she felt Clark reach over and cup her chin. Turning her head around to look at him, she saw his eyes clouded over with thought. Oookay... "What?" she asked, trying to ignore the heat rising in her cheeks as Clark's hand remained on her face, not to mention her heart quickening its pace.

Clark opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but closed it again. He let his hand drop from Lois' chin and looked down. "Nothing," he said. Lois was about to get out of the car again, when Clark touched her arm.

Lois sighed and sat back down. She raised an eyebrow at Clark, who continued to stare at her. "I swear, Smallville, if you don't tell me right now what you want, I'll --"

"I want you to dance with me."

Lois was taken aback by his abrupt interruption. The way he had said it made her backtrack and stare at him for a few moments. "Okay...Why...?" she asked.

"Because I didn't get to dance with you tonight at Lex's party," Clark simply said.

"Yes, you did. You saved me from that senile French man who had the hots for Lana, remember?"

"Yeah, but we didn't dance, we just stood there and talked."

"I distinctly remember us swaying to the music--"

"Why are you making this so hard for me?"

Lois stopped to look at him, the briskness of his tone taking her by surprise.

"Yes, or no, Lois?" Clark asked, a hand on the door handle.

Lois nodded her head mutely. When did HE get so impatient? Clark smiled and turned to the radio. "What are you doing?" Lois asked, watching him trying to turn it on.

"I'm looking for a song, duh. We can't dance to silence, you know...Ew.." Clark suddenly said, as the radio came to life. The end of Nelly's "It's Getting Hot In Here" was blaring out of the speakers, and the DJ was in the process of saying stuff like, "..Thank you so much for listening to 99.9 FM, your home for the shizzle that make your rizzle get the dizzle..Don't touch no buttons, foo, because up next we have the one, the only, ICE CREAM MAN FROM DA HOOOOOD! Yeah, you know you want some of this sh--" Clark turned the radio off. He looked at Lois and pointed. "You listen to this stuff?" he asked.

Lois raised an eyebrow at him. "You got a problem with that?" she asked in return, crossing her arms.

Clark tried hard not to laugh. "'Ice Cream Man'?" he snorted. "What kind of name IS that? I mean even for a rapper, that's pretty lame--"

"Are we or are we not going to dance, Clark?" Lois interrupted him, rolling her eyes in impatience.

Clark turned the radio on again and began switching stations. He finally decided on one, and Lois stopped to listen to what kind of songs he had picked. "..._because you are MIIIIIIIIIiine...at last_..." sang the radio. "OLDIES?" Lois blurted.

Clark stuck his index finger into the air. "The classics are ALWAYS the best," he replied, cranking up the volume and getting out of the car. "Come on, Lois."

Lois rolled her eyes and got out as well. As she walked around the car to join Clark in the front yard, she distinctly heard the person manning that particular radio station announce, "And now we have Clyde McPhatter, singing, 'Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me'. This song was very popular back in..."

"Hey, cool, I like this song," Clark said, taking Lois' hand and leading her across the lawn. It was already very dark, and he wanted to be near the porch light.

Lois "tsk"ed as she put a hand on Clark's shoulder, and slipped the other one into his waiting hand. "I think you've been spending too much time around your mother, Smallville," she said, her eyebrows rising in emphasis.

Clark just smiled in return and placed his hand on Lois' waist. "Are you saying my mom doesn't have good taste?" he asked, as the beginning of the song began playing.

Lois shook her head. "Nooo...I'm just saying that it isn't right for a kid like you to listen to this kind of stuff.."

"Well it sure beats 'Ice Cream Man From Da Hood', doesn't it?" Clark rolled his eyes. "Besides, I happen to LIKE this kind of stuff--"

"Fine, so be quiet. I want to know what's so good about this song," Lois snapped, straining her ear to hear the song better. Clark did as he was told and remained silent as they started to dance.

_...Hold me, hold me_

_Never let me go until you've told me, told me_

_What I want to know and then just hold me, hold me_

_Make me tell you I'm in love with you_

Clark grinned at Lois, whose countenance had softened while she was listening to the first part of the song. In fact, she looked pretty relaxed. "You like it, don't you?" he asked.

"Shh.." Lois softly whispered, a dreamy look on her face. She wasn't even looking at him. Wow, she must reallllly like it Clark thought. He felt her move a bit, and then watched as she let go of his hand and gently placed her arms around his neck. Clark had no choice but to wrap both his arms around her waist, as Lois unconsciously leaned her head on his shoulder.

_Thrill me, thrill me_

_Walk me down the lane where shadows will be, will be_

_Hiding lovers just the same as we'll be, we'll be_

_When you make me tell you..I love you.._

Clark slightly rested his cheek on Lois' head, her soft and sweet smelling hair mesmerizing him. He felt like he was in another world entirely. They weren't on the farm, they weren't in Kansas, it was only them and the music. Clark closed his eyes and let himself get lost in Lois' perfume (Scratch that He thought She doesn't wear perfume), his arms tightening around her waist. The feel of the velvety fabric against his hands only heightened his feeling of...Clark didn't know what it was, and he didn't want to waste time wondering about the subject. He only wanted to dance with Lois and to enjoy every moment of it.

_...They told me be sensible with your new love_

_Don't be fooled thinking this is the last you'll find_

_But they never stood in the dark with you love_

_When you take me in your arms and drive me slowly_

_Out of my mind..._

Lois smiled into Clark's shirt. She hadn't felt so peaceful and protected as she felt at that very moment. She had been protected her whole life, her father being a well known military general. He had always made sure that Lois was well looked after. But the security he provided lacked the warmness that she felt while she was being held in Clark's arms. Letting the soft sound of the music wash over her, Lois forgot all about her feelings of aggravation towards the man she was dancing with, and closed her eyes.

_..Kiss me, kiss me_

_And when you do I'll know that you will miss me, miss me_

_If we ever say I do, so kiss me, kiss me_

_Make me tell you I'm in love with you.._

"So.." Clark murmured into Lois' hair. Lois slowly took her head off his shoulder and looked at him. "So?.." she asked. Clark began regretting he had ever spoken. "This is your last night on the farm," he stated, smiling.

Lois smiled back at him, suddenly very aware of how close they were. Clark was hugging her to his chest a bit too protectively, his eyes boring into her own. Lois realized that she didn't need her shawl. She already felt very warm. "Yes...It is. What a way to end it, huh?" she softly replied, letting her eyes drop swiftly to look at his lips. When she looked back up at Clark, she saw that his face had gotten even closer than before, and he was gazing at her intensely.

_Kiss me! kiss me.._

_And when you do I'll know that you will miss me, miss me_

_If we ever say I do, so kiss me, kiss me_

_Make me tell you I'm in love with you.._

Martha fumbled with her purse strap as Jonathan drove down the road that led to the farm. "Oh, Jonathan.." she sighed. "I hope Lois didn't worry that much when she found out she left her video camera at the party." Martha took Lois' video camera out and looked at it. After she and Jonathan had finished their dessert, they had discovered the forgotten camera sitting on the table. The Kents' decided to follow their son and Lois home soon after, and Lex had understood that they weren't in the mood for more dancing.

Martha suddenly looked up as they neared their home, and reached out an arm to touch her husband. "Jonathan..Wait," she said. "Is that.." Jonathan slowed the car down and followed her gaze. Clark and Lois were dancing on the front lawn, their faces but inches from each other. "Well, what do you know..." he said, "It is."

Martha smiled and took out Lois' video camera. "I guess there was a reason for her leaving this behind, after all," she said, turning it on. Jonathan laughed beside her.

_...Never, never, never let me go..._

_Never, never, never let me go.._

The song ended, and Lois and Clark stopped dancing. Both suddenly felt something like a magnetic pull drawing them closer towards each other, as their eyes refused to break contact. Clark slowly leaned his face towards Lois, and she found herself leaning in closer as well. Her heart was beating so loud that she was afraid Clark would hear. She would have been glad to know that Clark did NOT hear it, since the sound of his own beating heart was practically deafening his ears. Their lips were but half an inch apart, when the sudden sound of Shelby's barking pierced through the air.

Lois and Clark quickly pulled away from each other and turned to find Jonathan and Martha pulling into the driveway. Shelby, who had been lounging quietly on the front steps, suddenly bounded off the steps, greeting his master and mistress with loud barks of excitement. "Hey, boy.." Jonathan said, petting Shelby around the ears as he and his wife got out of the truck. Martha pet Shelby on the head also, but was tempted to yell at him for ruining the beautiful moment she knew Clark and Lois had been experiencing. Oh, well she thought. Dogs will be dogs.

"Hey, Clark. Lois," Jonathan said, smiling and nodding at them as he made his way up the front steps. Clark and Lois waved at him, feeling dazed and confused about what just happened. Or rather, what had ALMOST happened.

"Are you feeling any better, honey?" Martha said, walking up to them. As Lois assured her that she was fine, Martha brought out the video camera.

"You left this at Lex's," she said, handing it over to Lois.

"Oh, thank you Mrs. Kent. I completely forgot all about it," she said, taking it into her hands and laughing weakly. A moment of silence passed and Martha felt the tension growing between her son and Lois. She was still debating on whether or not to go inside, when Lois said, "Uhm...I think I'll turn in now, it..It's getting late." She looked up at Clark, who had been looking at her the whole time. "Good-night," she said softly, and then walked into the house.

"Good-night," Martha and Clark replied, watching Lois go up the steps and disappear through the door. Martha turned to look at Clark, who looked relieved, nervous, and tense, all at the same time. "Honey?" she asked, placing a hand on his arm.

Clark shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "Mom, I think I'll go up to the loft for a while...I don't feel like sleeping just yet," he said, hoping she wouldn't protest. She didn't. Martha only kissed him on the cheek, patted his shoulder, and walked into the house.

After watching her go inside, Clark sped towards the barn, up the stairs, and into the loft. Collapsing on the couch, he put his head in his hands, muttering at intervals, "Okay, what just happened, what just happened..What...just happened..." Not able to keep still, he stood and paced around for a while, finally choosing to sit down next to his telescope. As he looked up at the stars, he tried to pull himself together. THINK! He groaned. Something had happened that night, and he didn't know what it was. Or maybe he DID know..and he just didn't want to accept it. Clark got up restlessly and began pacing the room again. It was going to be a long night for him.

Inside Clark's bedroom, things weren't going too well, either. As soon as she had shut the door, Lois leaned on it for support, slowly sliding down until she was sitting on the floor. She looked down at her trembling hands and tried to steady her heavy breathing. "What's going on?" she whispered, putting her arms around herself. She knew it had something to do with Clark, and she definitely knew it had something to do with their almost kissing. Lois' first thought was to take her cell and call Chloe, but she knew her cousin was still at Lex's party, probably dancing the night away. Come on Lois tried thinking rationally instead. Before she knew it, she had started a mental war with herself.

You almost kissed farm boy! FARM. BOY. What's wrong with you? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!

Well, he IS kind of cute.

Cute? CUTE! Have you forgotten all those times when he annoyed and made you mad on purpose!

His eyes are so dreamy..

Get a hold of yourself, Lois! You do NOT fall for anybody, remember? Your defenses must always be up. You can't let someone like Clark Kent into your world. He isn't allowed. NO ONE is allowed. Men are all the same, and Smallville is no different!

..But the way he held me in his arms made me feel so safe...

Oh, PLEASE. That jerk from high school made you feel safe and warm, and where did that get you?

But this is DIFFERENT.

This is NO different. You're just--

"ARGH, SHUT UP!" Lois yelled her frustration out loud. A knock suddenly sounded from behind her, and Lois jumped in surprise. "Lois?" Martha's voice was heard. "Are you all right?"

"Uh..." Lois stuttered. "Uh, yeah. Yes. Yes, I am fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Mrs. Kent. Thank you."

Lois waited until Martha's footsteps faded away before mentally kicking herself for being so stupid. "I'm leaving," she said, getting up. "I'm leaving tomorrow, and I'm going to forget all about tonight...I'm going to forget this ever happened...I will NOT give him another thought...Not ONE MORE THOUGHT.." Decidedly walking over to the closet and pulling out her PJ's, Lois stopped and leaned against the wall. She knew she was lying to herself. Not giving someone like Clark Kent another thought was way easier said than done.


	7. Day 7

Thanks to everyone for their kind reviews. ) I live and work off of them haha p

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Chapter 7 - Day 7

- FRIDAY MORNING -

It had been a restless night for Clark. 'Sleepless' would have been a better word. He didn't come into the house until two in the morning, apparently exhausted from thinking non-stop about the woman who was fast asleep in his bedroom. He was still dreadfully confused about what had happened the other night, and as much as he wanted to stop dwelling on that subject, it always came creeping back into his brain to unsettle him once more. Clark finally gave up as he laid down on the couch. The THING that had happened while he and Lois were dancing played over and over again in his mind, until Clark thought his brain would explode. He was finally able to drop off into a fitful sleep, dreaming no doubt about the kiss that had almost happened.

It was the same with Lois upstairs. She kept waking up at various times during the night, and each time she did, she would remember. Usually, it was normal for girls to stay awake, especially after experiencing a 'near kiss' with a boy they liked. But Lois' condition was different. She stayed awake because she was confused about why she had almost touched Clark's lips with her own. She knew she didn't like him. Well, that was a lie. She liked him. He was so adorable and annoying at the same time, and his innocent (and sometimes not-so-innocent) demeanor was appealing to Lois. But that was it. He was a great friend, one of her best, Lois realized, but...still..._OH, SCREW THIS_ Lois thought, pulling a pillow over her head. She fell back into a restless sleep which lasted about an hour, and then woke up again. She looked over at her clock and read the time. It was three in the morning.

Grumbling to herself, Lois sat up, put on her bunny slippers, and quietly walked out into the dark hallway. If she wasn't going to fall asleep, she might as well go downstairs and drink some warm milk. She remembered how it always worked with Lucy, who frequently had nightmares as a child. So, trying her best not to wake anybody, Lois quietly made her way down the stairs.

Shelby's ears twitched as Lois walked into the kitchen, and he immediately opened his eyes, wide awake. Getting up from his spot beside Clark's couch, he trotted over to Lois to see what she was doing. "Hey boy," Lois greeted him in a whisper, patting his head. She pinched her nose so she wouldn't sneeze, and was about to open the fridge, when a snore from the living room stopped her. Lois could have kicked herself. How was she going to use the microwave with Clark sleeping a few feet away? It would wake him for sure! Lois was ready to go back upstairs and just deal with being 'Sleepless in Smallville', when she got the idea of checking in on farm boy. Shelby at her heels, Lois slowly made her way towards his couch. Her heart almost melted at what she saw there.

Clark lay on the couch, a huge blanket draped over his large frame. His black hair was a tousled mess, and his head rested on a pillow, a hand tucked under it. He seemed to be in a deep sleep, though his eyebrows were crouched together as if he were dreaming of something disturbing.

Lois sat in a chair facing the couch, and Shelby laid down beside her feet. She didn't know why, but Lois suddenly felt the urge to watch Clark. She had seen him asleep before (she even went as far as yelling, "GOOD-MORNING!" right into his ear, which had woken the ENTIRE household, not to mention Clark himself), but she had never taken the time to just...well...watch him. Lois observed that Clark looked so young with his eyes closed. He looked almost thirteen _(Yeah, a thirteen-year-old with some SERIOUS abs_ Lois thought). But she knew that once those lids opened, and the glistening orbs hidden underneath were exposed, he would be a man again. Lois sighed mournfully. Clark Kent had grown up way too fast, that much she knew. Lois smiled. She bet Martha NEVER had to tell Clark to, "Act your age" if he was ever being immature. He acted FAR and BEYOND it.

Shelby suddenly whined at Lois' feet, and Clark stirred from his position on the couch. Before Lois could stop him, Shelby walked over to Clark and began licking his cheek. "Shelby!" Lois hissed. But it was too late. Clark's eyes slowly opened, and he regarded the dog covering his face with slobber.

"Shelbs," he groaned, "I'm trying to sleep." He took his pillow and covered his face with it. Lois noticed with amusement that Clark hadn't seen her sitting there. But Shelby, not to be deterred, pounced on Clark's chest and bit into the pillow covering his master's face. He viciously pulled on it, soft growls accompanying his efforts.

"Shelby, it's too early to play!" Clark said, trying to stop Shelby from pulling on his pillow any further. Lois watched for a full minute, an odd smile on her face, as Clark repeatedly growled at Shelby to quit bothering him. Shelby growled right back, and seeing that pulling on Clark's pillow wasn't going to work, he began emitting loud, short yelps. Clark instantly took the pillow off his face and sat up, grabbing hold of Shelby's mouth and holding it closed, saying, "Shelby! Be quiet, you don't want to wake Lois up--"

"I'm already awake."

Clark turned, visibly startled, and saw Lois sitting on a chair near the couch. Lois gave him a weak smile. "Lois," Clark said. They watched each other for a few moments, neither knowing what to say, much less what to do. But Shelby, growing terribly impatient, suddenly began growling into Clark's hand.

"Uh...I think you should let him go now," Lois said, taking her eyes off Clark's and looking at Shelby.

"Huh?" Clark looked down. Shelby continued to growl as Clark's hand remained clamped around his mouth. "Oh, sorry, boy," Clark quickly let go, and Shelby immediately got off his chest. Looking a bit miffed at Clark, he chose a spot near Lois' feet and yawned. I wouldn't know how to read a dog's mind, but it seemed Shelby was just thinking _My work here is done_ before falling asleep with his head on his paws.

Clark and Lois watched Shelby sleep for a while, before looking back up at each other. Clark coughed nervously. "So uh...So...you were here while we were uh.." He began gesturing with his hands.

"The whooole time," Lois grinned, nodding her head.

Clark blinked and stopped moving his hands around. "Oh," he chuckled softly, as he scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.

"Crazy dog," Lois put in, looking down at Shelby.

"Yeah...Crazy," Clark agreed.

Silence fell upon them once more. It remained quiet, at least, until Lois asked, "So how old is he?"

Clark stared, confused. "Uh, who?"

"Shelby."

"Oh! Oh, um...Gee, I really don't know. Two or five, I guess. Ever since you ran over--"

"Rescued," Lois corrected.

"...rescued him," Clark conceded with a smile, "..I never really got to figure out his age. He looks young though."

"Yeah...pretty young. I'd say he's three," Lois said, holding back a sneeze.

Clark shrugged from his seat on the couch. "Hmm...That's a safe guess."

"..Yeah.."

"...Yeah." Clark stared at her.

Lois saw this and suddenly felt uncomfortable under his penetrating gaze. "Uh..." she began, trying to take his attention off of her, "What's he like to eat?"

Lois' next question surprised Clark yet again. He had been watching her every movement and had to stop himself from staring at her. He tried to think up Shelby's favorite foods. "Well, we feed him the regular dog food.."

"I bet he doesn't like that."

"No, he doesn't, actually," Clark laughed. "He always tries to get food off the table while we try to eat our meals. You'll never see a crumb or a scrap of food left on the floor with Shelby around."

Lois laughed, and Shelby groaned in his sleep. Silence again.

"...So..." Lois said slowly.

"Yeah...so..." Clark repeated after her, smiling.

"Why are we talking about Shelby?" Lois suddenly grinned, pointing at the dog sleeping at her feet.

Clark laughed out loud. "I don't know. You started it," he replied.

Lois rolled her eyes, "Well, I'm ending it. Enough about Shelby."

"You looked beautiful last night."

Lois' head snapped up and she found Clark giving her his full attention again. She suddenly felt her cheeks grow hot, and her heart slightly quicken its pace. Lois tried not to squirm under Clark's even gaze. "O..kay.." she chuckled, giving him an odd look. "Where did THAT come from?"

Clark shrugged and looked down. "I don't know. I just remembered I'd forgotten to tell you how nice you looked last night, and...well...I know it's late, but.."

Lois smiled at his stuttering efforts. Usually she loved to see him so unsettled, but right now she just wanted to rescue him. "Thanks, Kent," she said, "You looked pretty good yourself."

Clark nodded, looking embarrassed. He smiled and muttered a quiet, "Thanks." He began smoothing out the invisible wrinkles on his blanket. "Couldn't sleep?" he asked, looking back up at Lois.

Lois looked relieved at the change of subject. She shook her head. "Nope. You?"

Clark shook his head as well. "Nah. I was finally dozing off, actually, when Shelby here woke me up," he explained.

Lois sighed. "Yeah. I keep falling asleep just to wake up again," she said. Clark nodded in sympathy. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Lois suddenly got up and began walking into the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" Clark asked, watching her go.

"Well, Smallville, since it's pretty darn obvious that neither of us are going to fall asleep anytime soon," Lois said, already in the kitchen and opening the fridge, "..It's only proper that we raid the refrigerator. We can kill time and make ourselves sleepy by gorging ourselves with food and milk..." Lois stuck her head into the fridge. "Ooh. Here's some cheesecake that looks like it came from Lex's party. Want some?" She took her head out of the fridge long enough to hear Clark's response.

"Sure," he said.

"Okay!" Lois replied, taking out a plate that had half of a strawberry cheesecake on it. Humming to herself, she pulled out two small plates and two mugs from the kitchen cabinets. She then proceeded to pour milk into the mugs and put them into the microwave to heat. Next, she took the plate of cheesecake, walked into the living room, and set it on the coffee table in front of Clark. "La dee da.." she sang, walking back into the kitchen to get the mugs from the microwave.

Yeesh Clark thought in amusement You'd think the kitchen was HER'S.

Lois presently returned with the mugs, plates, and forks all sitting on a tray. Continuing to hum to herself, she sliced out a hefty piece from the cheesecake, placed it on one of the small plates, and stuck a fork through it. "Here ya go," she cheerfully said, handing it over to Clark.

"Thanks," Clark said. His hand slightly brushed over Lois' own as he took it from her. Clark suddenly felt a shiver go through him, and he almost dropped his plate. He looked up into Lois' startled eyes and knew she had felt it too. She seemed to get over it easily, however, for she began slicing another piece of cake for herself.

"I don't think I've ever eaten cheesecake with milk before," Clark said, trying to shake himself back into focus. What is wrong with me? He thought. _What's going on?_

"Well, hopefully this will get us to sleeping in no time," Lois replied, taking her plate and getting up. "Move," she said, shooing Clark to the other side of the couch so she could sit down as well. As soon as she had put Clark's blanket over her pajama-clad legs, Lois smiled, "I hope your mom doesn't mind us eating here."

Clark shook his head. "Nah. I don't think she'll mind. Just as long as we don't spill anything," he replied, biting into his cake.

Lois suddenly laughed. "This is so weird. I feel like one of those old ladies in that TV show, 'The Golden Girls.'"

"Oh?"

"Yeah, you know how when they can't sleep, they always go into the kitchen and eat cheesecake?" Lois suddenly became thoughtful. Tapping her chin, she observed, "You know, I find it AMAZING that they don't get fat..."

Clark heartily laughed in reply.

After they had had their fill of cake and milk, they sat back comfortably, their stomachs undoubtedly full. Lois pulled her legs under her and leaned her head on the back of the couch. "'kay, Smallville," she said, already yawning. "What do we talk about?"

Clark shrugged. He was glad that the tension between them had somewhat dissipated over the last half hour. Everything felt kind of normal again...but just KINDA. "I dunno," he said. "How are your classes over at Met U?"

Lois sat up. "I do not believe it. We have..(she checked the watch) seven hours until I leave, and you want to talk about SCHOOL?"

Clark shrugged again. "Well what else is there to talk about?" he asked.

Lois leaned her head back on the couch. "Point taken," she mumbled, pulling the blanket closer around her shoulders. "My classes are fine." Clark snickered and Lois glared. "What?"

"I remember you complaining to Chloe a few days ago that all you keep getting are the lowest grades," Clark replied, raising an eyebrow.

Lois sniffed and closed her eyes. "Well, it's not MY fault I always come that close to failing. Some of those professors at Met U are so boring."

"Really."

"Yeah, they all talk in this slow...monotone...voooice..." Lois replied, deepening her tone and speaking in a monotone herself. "If they're not monotone, they're too hyper. And that's annoying. And if some aren't hyper, the others are too friggin' strict. There must only be two cool prof's there."

Clark smiled understandingly. "I'm sorry," he said.

Lois opened her eyes and made a face. "Eh, what for? It's not your fault Met U is full of emotionally unbalanced teachers. Besides, I don't know HOW you and Chloe do it."

Clark looked at her. "Do what?"

"Get straight A's and all that good stuff," Lois replied, yawning again.

Clark raised his eyebrows at her. "Well, for starters, we actually STUDY. And we actually LISTEN to what the teachers have to say about--"

"See, I'm incapable of all that," Lois interrupted him. "I always end up either snoring or daydreaming by the end of the lecture...It's BORING!" she finished.

"It's college," Clark said.

"It's cruel and unusual punishment."

Clark sighed. If she didn't start studying or paying attention soon, Lois was destined for total academic failure. He didn't know why he cared all of a sudden, but Clark was determined to help motivate her. "You know," he said thoughtfully, "I think I know of some ways that can help you pay attention better."

Lois sat up. "Keep going," she said.

"Well," Clark began. "I really recommend taking notes. While the professor's lecturing, write down what he has to say. Don't write EVERYTHING, though. Just the important points."

Lois frowned. "Well, how do I know which points are the important points?"

Clark smiled at her. Lois looked so cute when she was trying to understand something. "In order to find THAT out...you have to pay attention," he replied.

Comprehension slowly dawned upon Lois. "Ohhh.." she grinned. Clark nodded his head. Suddenly, Lois got up and began walking up the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Clark loudly whispered.

Lois ignored him and continued up the steps, only to appear a minute later with her video camera in hand. She sat back on the couch, drew half of the blanket on her and began recording. "Okay, Clark, say it again," she ordered.

"Huh? What are you doing?"

Lois turned the camera off for a moment and rolled her eyes. "I'm going to record you giving me advice! It's too much to write down. Besides, I don't have a notepad or a pencil around with me. I figured if I videotaped you, I can just write it down when I get back to my dorm."

Clark shook his head, "Boy, you're lazy." Lois glared at him and opened her mouth to say something, but Clark put his hands up in defensive mode. "I was just kidding! Calm down.. Okay, fine I'll do it."

Lois "HUMPH"ed, settled into the couch, and turned her camera on again. "Okay," she whispered/narrated. "Smallville's about to give me advice on how to study better and crap, so everyone be quiet!"

Clark looked at her, puzzled. "Lois, everyone's already SLEEPING--"

"JUST TALK!"

Clark promptly obeyed, and after repeating what he had said earlier about keeping notes, he playfully suggested that Lois videotape the professor's whole lecture. "You could actually put that dumb thing to good use," he said, pointing at the lens currently focused on his face.

"Ew, videotape his whole, entire LECTURE? It'll be like reliving every moment of torture I spent in class--"

"Oooooookay, fine, don't videotape him," Clark said. "You could just bring your laptop--"

"Don't have one."

"..Or you could bring in a tape recorder and record his--"

"I lost mine."

"Hey, do you want my advice or not?" Clark asked, frustrated.

Lois laughed. "Okay, sorry, keep going."

So Clark spent the next half hour giving Lois tons of suggestions: keep a planner, write down your goals for the day, and cross them off the list when you're finished doing it. DO NOT procrastinate, and especially don't cram. When you learn something new, go back to what you previously learned, and review it before moving on to the next thing. Don't wait until the Professor announces the date for an exam before reviewing stuff. If she owned the textbooks, then highlight the important sentences and go over them from time to time. If she was just borrowing the textbook, then write down the important parts in a notebook. Studying during the evening was better than studying in the afternoon. That way, you could study in peace and quiet without anyone bothering you because they're all asleep...yadda yadda yadda...

Meanwhile, Lois drank in his every word and tried committing it all to memory. She was getting a little drowsy from all the warm milk she had drunk, but she tried keeping awake for Clark's sake. Gosh, who knew Kent was so full of cool information? Lois recorded his every move and facial expression, glad for an excuse to watch him talk. She realized that Clark looked even more adorable when he was being serious, and especially when he was trying to convince you or trying to make a point. A fire would light in his eyes and he would go through it ruthlessly, like he was doing now. _Farm boy could run for president_ Lois thought. _He'd nail the debate. _

"...And uhm...That's about it I guess..." Clark's voice floated into Lois' thoughts and she looked at him dazedly. "...Lois?.."

"Huh?"

Clark grinned. "You can stop recording now. I think I've given you every piece of studying advice I know of..."

Lois nodded. "Oh, okay," she said, moving her finger to press the OFF button.

But suddenly, Clark stopped her. "WAIT!"

Lois stopped. "What?"

"I forgot," Clark said. He turned his face back to the camera. "And don't forget to DRINK. A LOT. OF COFFEE. If you ever DO begin studying in the evenings, I don't want you falling asleep and accomplishing nothing."

Lois grinned, although she was already very sleepy. "Awww, Clark, how sweet. Well...at least there's ONE thing I'll be looking forward to when I actually start studying," she said, turning the camera off. She suddenly let out a big yawn. Clark yawned as well. He looked out the window and saw that the sky was already beginning to light up. The sun would be out in an hour, he thought drowsily.

"Well, that's that," Lois sleepily said, putting her video camera on the coffee table and settling back into the couch. "Man, I'm sleepy...I...I keep...yawn yawning..."

"Yeah," Clark replied. "I think the cheesecake and the...warm milk...are..yawn finally taking effect...on.."

Lois suddenly flopped on his shoulder, already fast asleep and quietly snoring. Clark didn't have time to react, for HIS lids were starting to droop as well. He leaned back on his pillow and let Lois snore away. "Good.." Clark yawned. "..night." And he dropped off into a deep and peaceful sleep.

- 7:30 A.M. -

Martha slowly walked down the steps, stretching her arms above her. Yawning, she reached the bottom and headed for the kitchen. While taking out some eggs and bacon to cook for breakfast, Martha couldn't stop thinking about Lois' dreaded departure that day. Martha was going to miss her, that was for sure. Sure, Lois would probably still drop in and see them from time to time...but she had other, more important priorities in life. Martha opened the cabinet with the intent of getting a mug for her coffee, when she found her favorite one missing. Looking around, puzzled, Martha's eyes rested on the coffee table in the living room. Her mug was sitting on it.

Wondering how it got there, Martha yawned and walked towards the coffee table. She stopped short upon finding that it had the plate of cheesecake she had brought home the other night there, along with two other plates, mugs, and a tray. Martha turned sleepy eyes to the couch and jumped in surprise. She put a hand to her mouth to muffle her yelp. If she wasn't wide-awake a few minutes ago, she sure as heck was now.

Her son and Lois were on the couch, eyes closed and peacefully sleeping. Clark lay on his back, his head resting on Lois' own, and his right arm wrapped securely around her. Lois had unconsciously laid her head on Clark's chest during the night, and her arm was slung over his stomach. She slept with her mouth open, and Martha was thankful when she didn't see drool.

Martha was still watching them sleep when Jonathan came walking into the room, stretching his arms and yawning. "Good morning, honey," he said, coming up beside Martha and kissing her cheek. "What's for breakfa--" Jonathan stopped mid-question upon seeing his son and Lois sleeping on the same couch together. He blinked at them for a few moments before calmly turning to his wife.

"...They still have their clothes on?" he sleepily asked, pointing a thumb at the sleeping teenagers.

Martha stopped watching Lois and Clark long enough to cast her husband a reprimanding stare. "Jonathan!" she hissed.

Jonathan shrugged. "What, I'm just asking!"

Martha rolled her eyes and stepped forwards. Bending over and taking hold of a corner of Clark's blanket, she peered inside. "Yes, they're fully dressed," she affirmed, getting up and putting her hands on her hips. "Really, Jonathan, how could you think--"

"I know, I know. But what I would REALLY like to know is how they got into that...er...there position," Jonathan said, joining Martha again in staring at their sleeping 'kids.'

Martha, her eyes still on Lois and Clark, slowly shook her head and sighed. "I don't know...We could ask Clark when he wakes up," she said, shrugging. Then, she saw Lois' video camera sitting on the coffee table. She quickly took it and turned it on, a sly grin on her face.

"You know, I really think that I should get you one of those for your birthday," Jonathan said, watching his wife videotape an unaware Clark and Lois yet again.

"Why?" Martha asked from behind the camera.

"Because you keep using it!" Jonathan answered. "Honey, has it ever occurred to you that Lois will watch what she has recorded...or what YOU have recorded...when she gets back to her dorm?"

Martha waved a hand around dismissively. "Oh, sweetheart. I'm sure she wouldn't mind," she said.

Jonathan groaned and rolled his eyes, just as Shelby woke up and stood from his spot on the floor. He quickly walked over to Jonathan and licked his hand. "Good morning, boy," Jonathan said, ruffling Shelby's ears. "Do you think you could tell us how THIS happened?" he asked, pointing at the couch.

Shelby whimpered and Jonathan sighed. "Yeah, I thought so."

- AN HOUR LATER -

Clark stirred in his sleep as the smells from the kitchen came creeping their way into his nostrils. He eventually woke up, slowly opening his eyes and blinking. Puzzled, Clark found a mass of brown hair blocking his line of vision. Pulling his face away, he found that Lois' head rested on his chest, and her arm was wrapped around him. "Unh!" Clark said, finding that his own arm was wrapped around HER. Still staring wide-eyed at the woman sleeping next to him (more like, ON him), Clark heard footsteps approaching the couch.

"Good-morning, honey," Martha said as she walked in from the kitchen. Clark quickly looked up into his mother's smiling face. Then, he looked back at Lois.

"W-What?...How did...WHEN...She.." Clark made sputtering noises as he looked from Lois to his mother.

Martha couldn't help laughing. "I'm guessing you don't know how THIS happened, either," she said, sitting down in a chair.

Clark vigorously shook his head. "No, mom, I don't," he replied. "The last thing I knew, we were talking, and then...I woke up."

Martha chuckled. "Yes, well, now that you're awake I think you should get some breakfast. Your father will be starting his chores anytime soon," she said.

"Where's dad?"

"Upstairs changing into his work clothes. He just finished breakfast," Martha replied.

Clark went wide-eyed. "Did he..Did he see...?"

Martha smiled. "Yes." Clark groaned, and she laughed. "Clark, honey, why don't you bring Lois up to her...I mean...YOUR room, and just let her sleep. She'll be leaving after lunch and will be needing the rest," she said.

Clark nodded. "Okay," he said, already trying to get up from the couch.

"I have to go check on the chickens, and then I'll be back to get your plate ready," Martha said, getting up and heading for the back door.

"Thanks, mom."

As soon as Martha had left, Clark unwrapped his arm from around Lois' waist and tried to sit up. But Lois, feeling his movements, unconsciously tightened her hold around his torso, and snuggled her face further into his white shirt. Clark was frozen as she did all this. He stayed on the couch with a sleeping Lois wrapped around him. "This...is awkward," he finally said out loud, peering into Lois' face. Although their position WAS awkward, Clark couldn't help enjoying the feeling of Lois' body pressed against his. It felt good, and..._Focus, Kent, focus.. _he thought. He gently pried Lois' arm off him and slowly got up, making sure that Lois' head landed on a pillow as soon as he was off the couch.

Clark heaved a sigh of relief as soon as he was off. Then, he gently took Lois into his arms and walked towards the stairs. _Geeeeez_ he thought, remembering when he had to carry Lois up to his room last Friday evening. _How many times do I have to carry you up these stairs? _Not that he minded. A week ago, he might've detested the chore, but now...yeeeah. As Clark laid Lois onto his bed and pulled the covers over her, he couldn't help but stare for a few minutes.

She looked so beautiful, even with her hair pulled up in a messy ponytail, and soft snores emitting from her mouth. Clark knew he wouldn't have another chance to see her like this for a long time. Bending over, he brushed her ruffled bangs to one side. Then before he could stop himself, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. Clark had been tempted to brush her lips with his own, but he knew he hadn't earned the right to do that_...Yet _Clark thoughtfully added with a smile.

He was no longer confused. He didn't hate Lois Lane. Sure, she was still annoying, but...Clark knew that he was beginning to..(He gulped) like her. Clark watched Lois sleep, his face a mere two inches from her own. He inhaled her flowery scent, and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

After doing this, Clark reluctantly got up and walked towards the door. He stopped to look at Lois one last time...then shut the door behind him.

- 12:01 P.M. -

Lois awoke to the sound of scratching at the door. Turning her head to check the time, Lois almost shrieked at what she saw. "TWELVE!" she exploded. "TWEEELVE!...I still have to get ready, and pack, and...HOLD ON, SHELBY!" Upon hearing Lois' voice through the door, Shelby had begun barking and was scratching on the door even harder.

Lois quickly got out of bed and strode over to the door. She opened it, and Shelby jumped at her, causing Lois to fall bottom-first onto the ground. "Shelbyyy..." Lois half laughed/ half groaned as Shelby began licking her face. "Ookay, boy, come on. I've got to get ready," Lois said, pushing Shelby off her and getting up. "I'm leaving today." Shelby whimpered at her words. Lois sighed and smiled at the mournful dog looking up at her.

"Yeah," she said. "I'll miss you too."

And she sneezed.

LUNCH TIME

Clark couldn't believe it. It was Lois' last day in Smallville. Her last few HOURS, to be more precise. She had informed the Kents the other day that she intended to leave right after lunch, so she could unpack and rest as soon as she got back to her dorm. The other times she had come to visit, Clark actually knocked on her (or HIS) bedroom door and eagerly volunteered to help her pack. He didn't care if he had to help fold her bra's and panties, he just wanted her freakin' GONE. And as soon as her car would disappear around that bend on the road, he'd run back into the house singing and rejoicing.

And now, well...He found himself delaying. It had already been five minutes ago when Martha called Clark and Jonathan in to lunch. Clark had told his father that he wanted to finish milking Betsy before getting in, since Martha was running out of milk in the fridge. He should have done this earlier, Clark knew, but that morning he seemed to be so distracted.

So now, Clark sat on the stool and finished milking the old cow he'd known since childhood. He smiled as he remembered the day Lois had decided to help out with his chores. Her saying, "Squeezing some cow boob" instead of plain old "Milking the cow" always had Clark laughing and grossed out at the same time. Clark sighed for what seemed the hundredth time that day. Boy, was he going to miss her.

"Hey, Smallville, are you DONE yet? I'm starving!"

Clark turned and saw Lois walking up to the cow shed. As she made her way towards him, Clark felt like she was doing it in slow motion. Wind suddenly came out of nowhere and blew the long threads of golden brown locks hanging over her shoulders, making way for her fresh and flawless face... (Clark: "'long threads of golden brown locks'? Those words aren't even in my vocab!" Author: "HEY, MAN, WHO'S WRITING THIS STORY, YOU OR ME!" Clark: "Oh, sorry. Continue.")

ANYWAY! Lois was wearing her usual tight blue jeans, a cute green shirt, and a glittering belt around her waist. She had decided to let her hair loose that morning, and it dropped in waves over her shoulders. Hence, the slow motion. As she flashed Clark one of her dazzling smiles, Clark almost fell off his stool. When did I start paying attention to what she WORE and how she LOOKED LIKE? Maybe accepting that invitation to Lex's party wasn't such a good idea, after all. Clark knew that his newfound knowledge of his being attracted to Lois Lane had come from that fateful evening. He didn't know whether to curse it, or to bless it.

Clark stared. "Uh...Lois," was all farm boy could say, as he tried to regain his composure.

"Uh...Clark," Lois dorkily repeated after him, as she finally reached his side.

Instead of glaring up at her like he always did, Clark found himself chuckling. "What are you doing here?" he asked, as Betsy shifted in her place.

Lois rolled her eyes. "Your mother (not to mention ME) is impatiently waiting for your return in yonder kitchen. The food's been cooked ages ago! I just finished setting the table, and daddy-o's sitting in his chair, just drooling all over the fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob's," she explained.

"You're making me hungry."

Lois smiled and put her hands to her hips. "Good, 'cause that was my intention. Now will you come inside before we all starve to death?" she asked, sweetly.

Clark turned back to Betsy and took the full bucket of milk at his feet. "Sure, just as soon as I get this milk over to mom," he said, getting up.

As he walked out, he saw Lois stall and pet Betsy on her spotted back. "Ah, old Betsy. I remember the time I milked her," she turned to Clark, "You know, Bets over here is a good person to rant with. She just listens to everything you have to say about how cruel and unfair this world is, without so much as a complaint!"

Clark blinked at her. "...Huh?"

Lois just shook her head and patted Betsy once more, saying good-bye. As she accompanied Clark to the back door, he heard her mumble something he couldn't understand. "What?" he asked, wanting to know what it was. As stated before, he had been distracted the whole morning, and even his super hearing was late.

Lois just rolled her eyes and opened the door for him. "Oh, nothing. I was just wondering about how the animals around here are definitely growing on me. I mean, first Betsy, then Shelby, then the chickens.."

"Then ME," Clark put in.

"Oh, so you're an animal?" Lois crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him.

Clark nodded his head as he put the bucket down. "From the wiiiild," he replied, looking at her with round eyes.

Lois tried not to laugh as she led the way towards the kitchen where Jonathan and Martha were waiting. "From the wild, eh?" she asked under her breath. "Gee, and you appear so domesticated."

"I can bite," Clark tried convincing her.

Lois "tch"ed. "Suuuure," she replied, obviously unconvinced.

"Rawr."

Lois looked at him weirdly. "Was that supposed to be a lion or a CAT? I'm starting to think it was the latter."

Clark opened his mouth to say something back, but Jonathan interrupted with a loud, "THANK GOD! YOU'RE FINALLY HERE!" Clark and Lois looked up to see Jonathan totally fidgeting in his seat and vigorously rubbing his right hand. Martha stood right next to him, a large wooden spoon in her hand, and a stern expression on her face.

"See, honey? I told you Clark would come if we sent Lois out. I hit your hand for nothing," Martha said, putting the wooden spoon away and getting settled into her own seat.

Jonathan rolled his eyes as Clark and Lois took their seats as well. Martha smiled at Lois, "Oh, by the way, Lois, I forgot to tell you. Guess who I invited over for lunch today so you can spend a bit more time together?"

Lois stared at her, puzzled for a few moments, when she saw her cousin suddenly come walking back into the kitchen from using the restroom. "CHLOE!" she squealed, as Chloe reached down and gave her a hug. "This is awesome, I'm so glad you're here!"

Chloe laughed as she took her seat beside Martha. "Well, who in their right mind would refuse an offer to share in the delicious, home cooked meals of Mrs. Kent? This woman's a born chef, I tell you!"

After modestly denying the praises rained down upon her by Lois, Chloe, Jonathan, and Clark, Martha laughingly said, "All right, all right. Jonathan, please say grace,"

An impatient Jonathan shifted in his seat, "Grace."

"Jonathan."

"...I'm kidding!...Okay, everybody, let's hold hands..." Jonathan said, before saying their prayers. He took hold of Martha and Clark's hands, and watched as his wife took a hold of Chloe's, Chloe took hold of Clark's, and Clark took hold of Lois'.

Lois and Clark jumped in their seats as soon as their hands touched. What? AGAIN? Lois thought, remembering what had happened that early, early morning. She looked up and saw Clark staring at their hands too. As Jonathan began to pray, they both tried to take their minds off of what had just passed between them.

After grace and the "amen"s were said, the Kents, Lois, and Chloe enjoyed a delicious meal full of lively chatter. Martha had made this lunch especially for Lois' departure, and had made sure to invite Chloe. She had seen the tension between her son and Lois the other night, and hoped that Chloe's presence would make them feel more at ease.

Thankfully, Chloe didn't mind that Mrs. Kent had called her at the last minute. She wanted to spend as much more time with Lois as possible. And...besides...after hearing what had taken place the last evening from Martha (they had gossiped in the kitchen while waiting for Clark and Lois to come in), Chloe wanted to see how Clark and her cousin were reacting to each other now.

She now found herself gazing at the people sitting around her. Jonathan stuffing his face with as much food as possible while conversing with his smiling wife, Clark and Lois laughing at some inside joke they had just shared. Everyone smiling and having a good time. Chloe felt like she was at home, with family. _Now.. _she mischievously thought. _...All we have to do is get Clark and Lois to like each other enough to get MARRIED, so we'll be REALLY related! _This caused Chloe to smile and to emit a loud squeal from her seat.

Everyone stopped to look at her.

Chloe, a spoon full of mashed potatoes in her mouth, stared back. "What?" she asked.

"What's with the..." Lois imitated her squeal.

Chloe swallowed before answering, and took her glass. "Oh, nothing..." she said, before drinking from her glass of water. Just imagining what it would be like to be Clark's cousin-in-law... At the thought of THIS, Chloe choked on her water and burst out laughing.

"Ewwwww, CHLO!" Lois said, making a face at her arm, which now had drops of water and Chloe's saliva on it. She grabbed a napkin from Clark and began wiping it away. "What's up with you? You're acting so weird!"

Chloe continued to laugh. "..HAHAHAHAHHAA!...HAHA, I'M...WHEEZE HOO, BOY...SORRY!..." They all stared at her, waiting for an explanation. "...I'm just...tooo...INHALE, CHOKE, LAUGH HAPPY!" She started on another round of laughter.

Lois raised an eyebrow at her cousin. "Yeah, I can see that," she said, watching Chloe try to calm down.

Although Chloe DID manage to stop laughing after a while, she continued to give Lois and Clark mysterious little smiles throughout the meal. Which freaked the other two out, of course. Looking up from your fried chicken and seeing the person sitting across from you just staring and shooting you a mega-watt smile can be kiiinda creepy. Lois and Clark chose to ignore this, however, since asking questions might just complicate things even more. And it's a good thing that they didn't ask, too, for if Chloe were to confess what she had been just thinking, LnC would probably start yelling at her for imagining the possibilities.

After everyone had finished their lunch, Martha took all of their plates and urged Chloe and Clark to help Lois bring her bags to her car. The two obeyed, and they presently marched up the steps, headed for Lois'--er, sorry--CLARK's room.

"Hey, guys!" Lois called out to Clark and Chloe as they made their way up the stairs. "I'm going to open my trunk and then I'll come up and help you out, all righty?"

"OKAY!" Clark and Chloe yelled back, continuing their trek towards Clark's room. Once there, they took hold of Lois' two duffel bags.

"Oh, my gosh," Chloe said, tugging at the strap of one duffel bag. "This thing weighs a TON! Clark, I can't lift it!"

Clark took the bag from Chloe's hands and began walking out of the room. "It's okay, Chloe," he called. "I'll bring Lois' bags to her car. You can wait outside with Lois if you want."

"'kay," Chloe said, following Clark down the steps. She didn't follow him out the door, however, for Martha called her into the kitchen. "Sup?" Chloe asked, as soon as she was at the sink where Martha was still washing the dishes.

"Oh, honey. Lois' video camera," Martha replied, nodding at the kitchen counter. Chloe looked, and sure enough, Lois' lil handy video cam was sitting on the kitchen counter. "...She might forget it..." Martha continued. "Do you mind giving it to her?"

Chloe shrugged and took it into her hands. "Okay! Thanks, Mrs. Kent. I'll go take a video of her and Clark right now," she said, walking out the door.

Martha smiled as soon as Chloe was out the door. "What do you think I've been doing this past whole week?" she muttered to herself.

OUTSIDE

Clark grunted as he tried fitting the last of Lois' luggage into the trunk of her car. Once again, the cause of all the problems was Lois' enormous suitcase. Because of all the shopping Lois had done on Wednesday, her bags were bigger and bulkier than ever before. Clark tried pushing it into the back of Lois' car, but to no avail. He finally gave up and dragged the suitcase back to the ground. "Argh!" he panted, turning to address the woman standing next to him. "Lois, why'd you have to BUY so many stuff!"

Lois rolled her eyes, but before she could reply, Chloe came dancing into the scene, the video camera in her hands. "HEY GUYS!" she said. "SAY HI!"

"Hi," Clark and Lois waved.

"Okay, come on, help me think of a way to get this in," Clark sighed, staring at Lois' car trunk. He saw no way that the large suitcase could fit in there.

Lois sighed from her spot. "Clark, there's something that you must understand..." she began. Chloe trained the camera lens back and forth between Clark and Lois.

Clark looked at Lois. "Oh, really? What's that?"

"...Putting luggage into the back of your car..." Lois continued, "...is like making love."

crickets

"WHAT?" "HUH?" Clark and Chloe suddenly exploded, staring at Lois as if she'd gone wacko.

"What are you talking about?" Clark asked.

"Yeah.." Chloe snickered. "MAKING LOVE?"

Lois looked at them as if they were little children that needed to be taught something new. "Well, unlike SOME people, I find it to be the perfect example. Think about it. First, you have to analyze the situation. Decide on which form of attack you should use. In which way should one object be positioned in order for the other to fit in? How much FORCE must you apply to correctly--"

Clark groaned, "Lois, STOP, you are bringing REALLY...DISTURBING...IMAGES...into my mind."

Lois shrugged. "It's allll about strategy and EXPERIENCE, kid. You need smarts! And you can't just start loading a car without having loaded dozens of cars first, you've got to get used to it. Now, come on, let's give it another try," she said, dragging the suitcase over to Clark and waiting for him to take hold of it. Clark rolled his eyes over to look at Chloe, who still held the camera in REC in her hands. She shrugged. Sighing, Clark wiped his forehead and took the large suitcase from Lois.

"Remember," Lois said, patting Clark's back. "It's like making love. You perfect it with experience. So don't feel too bad about yourself."

Clark raised an eyebrow at her. "Uh, yeah. Whatever, let's just get this thing into your car."

Lois grinned up at him. "Push, Kent."

(Author's Note: Oh yeah, you knoooow what's coming...)

KITCHEN

Martha sighed as she put the last of the dishes away into a cabinet. Jonathan sat on a stool at the counter, finishing his last glass of orange juice. They had been making small talk while waiting for the kids to finish loading Lois' car in the driveway. Now, having just wiped the table, Martha walked towards Jonathan.

"I'm sure going to miss Lois around here," she said, sitting down next to her husband.

Jonathan laughed and put an arm around Martha. "I know, me too. Just think about it: No more quarreling, no more screaming, no more of the kids getting in trouble, and no more of Clark complaining about how she gets to have his bed. There will actually be peace and quiet throughout our home..." he paused. "You know, that doesn't sound TOO bad."

Martha laughed and playfully slapped Jonathan on the arm. "Oh, Jonathan," she chuckled. Then, she became serious again. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Honey, I can't help thinking that Lois is good for Clark," she said rather bluntly.

Jonathan looked down at her. "What do you mean? Lois IS good for Clark," he said.

Martha shook her head. "Yes, I know, but...Do you think it's...well...WRONG...to hope...to hope for...you know?" she looked up into Jonathan's eyes, willing him to understand.

Jonathan just smiled down at his wife, and Martha knew he understood. He placed a loving kiss on her forehead. "No, honey," he softly said. "You can hope...Just don't expect anything, all right?"

Martha sighed and nodded her head. "All right...I'll TRY not to expect anything, but--"

"COME ON CLARK, YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT! PUSH!"

Martha and Jonathan turned their heads to the open window in the kitchen. "Hey, wasn't that--" Jonathan began, but was interrupted yet again with Lois' loud voice cutting through the still air. The Kents listened in petrified silence, as the shouting outside became even louder.

"PUSH, KENT! My gosh, NO NO NO! This is MAKING LOVE, REMEMBER! You're doing it like a VIRGIN for Pete's sake!"

"He IS a virgin!" Chloe's voice rang out.

"UGH! MOVE OVER, SMALLVILLE, YOU DO IT LIKE THIS!"

"WILL YOU GIRLS JUST SHUT UP AND LET ME DO IT ON MY OWN? I'M TRYING MY BEST TO FIT IT IN!" Clark's voice joined the hullabaloo.

"I think it's too big.." Chloe's thoughtful voice floated into the kitchen.

"It is NOT too big! But we won't get ANYTHING done if Clark doesn't push HARDER! Come on, Smallville! It's already a perfect fit! Now all you have to do is PUSH PUSH PUSH PUSH--"

"I AM PUSHING!"

A pale Martha turned to address her husband, who looked frozen to his stool. "Sweetheart..." she said, her eyes the size of baseballs. "What...are they doing..."

(If you are laughing at this point, you have a dirty...dirty mind...haha JK.)

- OUTSIDE -

"YEAAAAAAAAH! YA DID IT!" Lois threw her hands into the air and congratulated Clark with a pat to his back. He had finally been able to successfully push the large suitcase into Lois' trunk, and it fit perfectly. He grinned shyly as Chloe zoomed the camera lens into his face and yelled, "Ladies and gentlemen, VICTORRRY!"

In the middle of all their excited hooting, Martha and Jonathan suddenly came running towards them, worried but determined looks on their faces. They skidded to a stop when they saw Clark finish closing the trunk of Lois' car.

"CLARK!" Martha shouted, panting. "What...were you DOING!" Jonathan took in deep breaths of fresh air beside her.

Clark, Chloe, and Lois all raised their eyebrows at the Kents. O...kay. "I was putting Lois' bags into her car, mom...Why?" Clark asked, confused on how strange his parents were behaving.

Martha and Jonathan stood staring at them for a while, inhaling and exhaling their lungs out. "You mean..." Martha slowly said. "...nothing was going on...between...you two?" she pointed at Lois and Clark. The couple in question exchanged a "WHAT THE HECK" look, and then turned back to Martha.

"Nooo...not that I know of..." Clark said slowly.

Jonathan put hands to his hips. "Oh, REALLY? Then what's this we heard about making love and pushing?" he asked.

Chloe let out a snort of laughter from her spot on the driveway, but the Kents shot her a look so she stopped mid-laugh. Lois stared at Clark's parents, who were sternly looking back at her. After a few moments, comprehension dawned. "Ohhhh..." she slowly smiled. "You thought we were..."

"EWWWWW!" Clark burst, having caught on as well. "MOM! NASTAY!" He started making choking noises.

Chloe sighed and shook her head. "Poor Mr. and Mrs. Kent.." she muttered under her breath. Then she turned to her cousin. "Lois? I think you better explain NOW before Mr. Kent has a heart attack."

So Lois spent the next...oh, let's see...fifteen minutes?...trying to explain to Martha and Jonathan what had REALLY happened. Chloe laughed at the expressions on the Kents' faces, while Clark gagged in the background.

Martha and Jonathan ended up laughing as well, though they were STILL very confused. But they were happy and relieved to know Clark and Lois hadn't been...doing uh...what they THOUGHT...they had been...er...doing. cough So after this ordeal had passed, Lois ran up to Clark's room, wanting to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. Martha asked Jonathan and Chloe to help her bring something out in the kitchen, leaving Clark alone in the driveway beside Lois' car.

Clark sighed. He hadn't meant for his parents to hear Lois' terrible metaphors. He was just glad that they had understood. He stood brooding for a while, kicking at pebbles on the ground, feeling sad about Lois leaving the farm. Questions flooded his mind: When would she be back? WILL she be back? Was she in any way attracted to him as he was attracted to her? Would she ever like him the way he was BEGINNING to like her? So many questions, so little time. And he was STILL confused. Hopefully, in the days to come, Clark would have the time to analyze and be able to decide what he really felt for Lois.

Suddenly, he heard Lois come walking down the steps and heading towards him. He turned around just in time to see her smiling, her purse slung over her shoulder.

"Admit it, Small V," she said, punching his arm. "You're going to miss me."

"Small V?" Clark asked.

Lois rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "So sue me, I have a new nickname for you," she said, rummaging into her purse. Clark laughed. "So anyway, I have something here for you..."

"For ME?" Clark asked.

"Yeah, it's a good-bye present thing..."

Clark raised his eyebrows for a moment. A 'good-bye' present? Why did she have to give him a good-bye present? And crap. Was she expecting him to give her one too? But before he knew it, Lois was shoving a CD case into his hands. "I got this at the mall while you weren't looking," she explained.

Clark tilted his head to see what she had gotten him. "...Shania Twain's Greatest Hits," he read, as Lois walked past him and opened her car door.

"Check out track five!" Lois said, throwing her purse into the car.

Clark, who was already confused, turned the CD over and looked for number five. "'Man, I Feel Like a..' LO!..." He now turned an annoyed face over to Lois, who was leaning on her car, laughing.

"Whaaat? You know, it's okay to 'feel like a woman' sometimes, Clark. Get in touch with your feminine side!" Lois teased, clearly enjoying the way Clark was reacting to her gift. "..Besides, when I come back, you, me, and Chloe are going to have a trio karaoke thing, and we're going to sing THAT song. So I suggest you put that CD to good use and practice."

Clark's head snapped up at the words "I", "Come", and "Back." He was so excited that he didn't hear what else Lois had been saying. "Really?" he asked, unable to keep the smile from his face. "You're coming back to visit? When?"

Lois shrugged. "I dunno. I know I'm planning to spend my Christmas down here..." Clark's head drooped in disappointment. He had to wait THAT long? "...But I might come visit in between. Chlo would kill me if I don't go see her at least once every three months or something..." Clark's head was up and he was smiling again, but he didn't say anything.

Lois trailed the toe of her shoe on the ground. Clark shuffled his feet. "Ehm...So..." Lois began.

"Yeah. So."

"So I guess this is good-bye, huh?" Lois looked up and grinned at Clark.

Clark smiled back, though he was feeling quite depressed inside. "Yeah, I guess so," he shyly replied.

Lois rolled her eyes, and Clark thought he saw tears in them. "Oh, come here, you," she said, reaching out and suddenly putting her arms around Clark's neck in a big hug. Although surprised at first, Clark easily wrapped his own arms around Lois' waist. She was hugging Clark tightly, and he didn't mind at all. Burying his face into Lois' sweet-smelling hair, he tried to pay attention to what she was saying.

"...Thanks, buddy," Lois mumbled into his shoulder.

"Thanks for what?"

Lois let go and made a sniffling noise. "You know, thanks for letting me use your bedroom, for letting me drag you around town unattended, for playing along when I wanted to go to the fair and have that crazy camp-out...and...you know for all that advice you gave me last night. I mean, this morning."

Clark chuckled. "What are you talking about? I should be thanking you.." he said, looking down at his feet.

Lois blinked. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Clark looked up, put his hands in his pockets, and fixed her with one of his shy/adorable looks. "Well," he began. "I have to admit...If you hadn't come to stay with us for a week,...I don't know what I would have done."

Lois smirked. "You'd probably sit up in your loft, star gaze, and think loads about Lana," she said.

"About that," Clark put in, "I'm over her."

Lois raised her eyebrows, obviously very surprised. "You're over her alREADY?" she asked, incredulous. She crossed her arms and stared at a smiling Clark. No way. He HAD to be bluffing.

Clark nodded. "Yeah..."

"Well, it took ya LONG enough, Smallville! I'm proud of you!" Lois said, patting his arm. "You know what...I think you deserve another hug."

Clark's smile grew as Lois laughed and hugged him again. He could get used to this. Suddenly, however, Chloe's voice spoke up from behind them.

"What, lo? It's Clark and Lo! And," here she let out a theatrical gasp, "What's this they're doing? They actually have their arms wrapped around each other in a loving embrace! You people WATCHING THIS! This is a landmark in history! Hey, how about you guys make it official with a lil' smoocheroo, eh Clark? Oh you know you wanna--"

"Oh, shut up, Chloe," Lois said, letting go of Clark and playfully hitting her video-camera-armed cousin in the ribs. Nevertheless, she blushed a light pink, and nobody but Chloe noticed it.

The Kents came walking out of the house then, Martha holding a large basket in both hands. She smiled as she handed it over to Lois.

"Mrs. Kent!" Lois said, taking it into her hands. "What's this?"

"It's some food left over from lunch. I made you a couple of chicken sandwiches, and there's some cheesecake and soda as well," Martha answered.

Lois stopped looking through the basket and reached out to embrace Martha. "Oh, Mrs. Kent, thanks so much, but...what about your basket?"

Martha just shook her head and patted Lois' cheek. "THAT, sweetie," she said. "Will give you another reason to come visit us again."

"Amen," Jonathan spoke up from his spot, and everyone laughed as Lois went to hug him as well.

So after another round of good-bye's, Lois pried the video camera from Chloe's vice-like grip and declared that it was time for her to go. The cousins hugged each other one last time before Lois climbed into her car and turned it on. As she was about to back out of the driveway, however, she heard a tap on her window. She turned to see Clark making hand motions, asking her to bring her window down.

As she did, she asked, "Yeah, what is it?"

Clark looked like he had something important to say, but was definitely hesitating. Everyone watched as he looked down at his shoes, look up at Lois, open his mouth, and then close it again. Lois waited patiently at the wheel, wondering what was going on. But Chloe, getting annoyed, hit Clark on the back. "Oh, just TELL her already!" she said, rolling her eyes.

Clark stopped looking at the ground. He finally brought his gaze up and locked eyes with Lois' own. "I'll miss you," he said. And he meant it. He continued to stare at Lois, wanting her to believe what he had just said. He hoped she wouldn't take it lightly, because he meant it with all his heart.

Lois didn't take it lightly. She was startled at this declaration, of course, because Clark had never said that he was going to miss her before. In fact, she didn't think he ever DID miss her...Until now. She gave him a small smile full of meaning, and reached a hand out her window, not once breaking eye contact with him. "I'll miss you, too," she softly replied.

Clark took her hand, and she squeezed his. They looked into each other's eyes, and neither knew what to feel. It was as if time had frozen, and they couldn't take their eyes off each other.

Martha, Jonathan, and Chloe stood watching them. They exchanged knowing and hopeful smiles as Clark and Lois continued their little staring contest.

But after a few seconds had passed, Lois finally loosened her grip, and Clark reluctantly let her go. Before he knew it, Lois was pulling out of their driveway, smiling and waving at them. His parents and Chloe yelled their last good-bye's. Chloe even chased after Lois' car until she couldn't keep up anymore.

Clark felt like he was rooted to the ground. He couldn't move, he couldn't keep his eyes from that spot on the road where Lois' car had disappeared, and he didn't know why. All he could think about were those last few moments he and Lois had shared. Something special and memorable had passed between them.

And Clark knew it was only the beginning.

**The End.**

_PSYCHE!_

- EXACTLY ONE WEEK LATER -

"HEY, CLARK!"

Clark smiled and waved at his dad as he made his way up the front steps. It was Friday again, and he had just come home from school. "Hey, dad!" he called. "Do you need some help?"

Jonathan waved a hand around from his seat on the tractor. "No, thanks, son! I'll call you if I need you, though!"

Clark nodded and walked into the house. Martha wasn't home from the Talon yet, and the house, as Clark had come to notice over the past week, was eerily quiet. He tried shrugging off a feeling of sadness, but he knew it had something to do with Lois' leaving them. Which was weird, because before, when Lois left, he'd embrace the silence. Now, he'd do anything to hear her noisy heels walking up and down the stairs, her yelling along to the radio, and her playful greetings of "Hey, Smallville" "Hey farm boy" "What up, Kent?" "You stink. Were you shoveling cow dung again?"

Clark sighed as he sat down on the couch. He hadn't spoken to Lois since that day she left the farm. When school had re-opened, he and his classmates had a lot of catching up to do, and Clark was very busy. He knew Lois was busy with her classes too, for she didn't call him or Chloe. She had called Chloe last Saturday, but that was only to assure her cousin of her safe arrival in Metropolis. Clark didn't know why not talking to Lois every twenty-four hours bugged him so much.

He was just about to get up and head for his loft to do his homework, when he heard a loud rap on the door. Clark got up, walked to the door, and opened it.

"Chloe!"

Chloe stood on the doormat, grinning from ear to ear.

"What's up, what are you doing here?" Clark asked, and he looked down to see that she was holding a brown paper bag in her hands. "What's that?" he pointed.

"THIS," Chloe said, handing it over to him. "Is for YOU. It's from Lois and me."

Clark raised an eyebrow at her, and she explained, "It's the pictures we took at the fair and during our camp-out. I finally had them developed, and I made three copies so I could give them to you guys."

Clark looked through the bag and took out a video tape.

"Oh, and Lois gave THAT when I went to Metropolis with dad on Wednesday. She told me to give it to you," Chloe added, pointing at the tape.

Clark raised his eyebrows and turned the tape in his hands. "Well, what is it?" he asked.

Chloe smiled at him. "You'll just have to find that out for yourself, won't you? But I tell you this: I almost popped a vein LAUGHING when I watched it," she said, beginning to giggle.

Clark smiled. "Oooookay, you've got me interested...Thanks, Chloe," he said, gathering the paper bag full of pictures and the video in his hands.

Chloe stood there smiling at him for a while in that weird way Clark had gotten used to, before looking down at her shoes, and saying, "You know, if you're falling for her, Clark...Don't fight it."

Clark stared at his best friend in silence, startled at what he had just heard. What did she just say? "Chloe--"

"Have fun watching that video, Clark," Chloe smiled at him one last time, before waving and heading down the steps. Clark watched, confused, as she got into her car and drove away.

After just standing there for a full minute, Clark finally went back into the house and shut the door. Shaking his head, he walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. He then proceeded to open the paper bag and spill its contents. Various photographs with white borders covered his lap, and Clark gathered them into a pile so he could look at each one properly.

The first one was of Chloe and Lois eating their cotton candy, and Clark remembered that he had taken that one. The next picture had Clark and Chloe standing in front of the haunted house, making scary faces at the camera. Clark smiled and moved on to the next picture. This one was taken by Chloe while they had been riding the spinning teacups, and Clark and Lois had their eyes crossed, and their tongues sticking out of their mouths. Clark laughed out loud. The next few pictures were of their campout, and Clark groaned when he saw one of him sleeping in his tent with his mouth open. Chloe must have taken that he thought, taking note to tell her off at school the next morning.

But it was the next picture that grabbed Clark's full attention. It was the one Chloe had taken of him and Lois after their ride in the Ferris wheel. Lois had her arm slung around his neck, giving one of her glittering and infectious smiles. Beside her, Clark saw an image of himself smiling uncertainly, his hands in his pockets.

Clark finally stopped looking at it when the video sitting on the coffee table grabbed his attention. Putting the picture of him and Lois down, Clark took the video out of it's cover. A folded piece of white paper fell out. Taking it into his hands, he read, "I guess someone was using the camera while I wasn't looking, huh? Tell your mom I said hi. - Lois." Crouching his eyebrows in confusion, Clark took the tape and read off its label, "Seven Days in Smallville - A Documentary."

Curious, Clark shoved it into the VCR, and immediately, the tape began playing. He saw what looked like the bed Lois used in her dorm at Met U. As he continued to watch, he saw Lois herself (wearing her famous purple pajamas) walk from behind the camera and sit on the bed.

"Hey, Smallville," she began with a grin. "As you know, I spent most of my time at your place video-taping everybody. Sorry if that annoyed you. (Clark smirked.) But anyway, uh...THANK YOU, MRS. KENT! The most interesting parts in this video were taken, I KNOW, by her...So, yeah, I'd like to give her the credit for her awesome 'candid camera' skills." Here, she stopped and Clark thought he saw her blush. "So, um. Enjoy."

Lois and her dorm room suddenly disappeared, and an image of Clark snoring on the couch came into full view. "Oh...my gosh," Clark said from his seat on the couch.

"Awww..." Lois' voice was heard, as images of Clark sleeping and snoring continued to play. "Look at the little babbyyyy...He's so CUUUUuuuute..." Clark rolled his eyes and watched himself eventually wake up and throw a pillow at the camera. He smiled as he remembered that awful day when he had awoken to Lois video-taping him. _Argh. _What followed after that were more funny situations that Clark didn't even remember occuring. He couldn't help chuckling out loud when images of him and Lois playing twister appeared onscreen. He went into gales of laughter as he watched the shaving cream/pillow fight that Chloe had took.

But as Clark watched the rest of the video, he came to understand the note Lois had written him. There were recorded sequences of him and Lois fighting in the barn, chasing each other while cleaning the truck, the dance out in the front yard after Lex's party, and more...Clark couldn't help blushing a bright red when he watched those parts. He couldn't believe his mother had recorded all that.

The tape finally ended, and Clark saw Lois sitting on the bed in her dorm room again. She was smiling shyly into the camera. "Sooo...yeah.." she said, and Clark found that he couldn't keep his eyes from her image on the television screen. Lois suddenly looked up. "Thanks for a magical seven days, Clark," she said, smiling slightly. Then, Clark watched as she slowly got up from the bed and turned the camera off.

"No..." Clark whispered, staring at the TV, which had already gone black. "Thank you."

After thinking about a particular someone for a while, Clark took the remote back in his hands and rewinded the tape. He quickly paused it as soon as the scene where he and Lois were hugging came onscreen. Chloe had taken that before Lois had left. Clark and Lois were smiling at the camera, having just discovered that Chloe was video-taping them.

It was then that Clark decided to act. He knew this was a small step, but he was going to do it anyway. He quickly pulled his cell phone from his pocket, looked for Lois' number, and dialed it.

After a few rings, she finally picked up. "Hello?"

"Lois?"

"Hey, Smallville! What--Hey, leave me ALONE, Denise, I'm talking to Clark!...NO, YOU MAY NOT TALK TO HIM!...Argh, go away!"

Clark, who had been smiling since the moment she had called him "Smallville", listened in puzzlement as some shuffling and yelling was heard from Lois' end of the line. "Er...Lois?"

After a few seconds, she replied with, "Okay, back! Sorry about that."

"What happened?"

Lois sighed and Clark could almost see her rolling her eyes. "Oh, that was Denise, a friend of mine. She and a couple of other girls were with me when I wrote down those studying suggestions you gave me over the video?...KAYLA. GO. AWAY. Anyway, yeah. They were practically drooling while they were watching that, and now they've got major crushes on you," she explained.

Clark laughed. "Really?"

"Yep, really. They think you're hot. AHHHHHHHHHUUUUGH..."

"Hiiiii, Clark..."

"Who's this?" Clark asked, as another girl's voice greeted him over the phone. He heard Lois yelling in the background ("GIVE ME BACK MY CELL PHONE, CRYSTAL!"). She finally DID get her phone back, saying, "Yeesh! Some girls, man..I'm starting to regret having them over when I watched that thing..."

Clark laughed, and they were quiet for a while. "Uh, Lois. I called because I um...kinda wanted to ask you if-"

"OH MY GOSH!" Lois suddenly interrupted, her voice sounding excited. "AHH! Clark, okay, I have to tell you something. I just took TWO exams today. Ah, I feel so LIBERATED! HA HA it was so FUNNY, I actually took your advice and STUDIED this time. (more laughing) When they handed me the test papers I was like, 'Whoa! I actually KNOW THIS STUFF!'...You were right, Kent, studying actually works! Good-bye, procrastination! Lois Lane is going to FINISH COLLEGE with flying colors! So what do ya think about that, huh Clark? Ya proud of me?"

Clark, who hadn't been able to get in a word edgewise the whole time Lois was telling her "I-now-love-studying" story, just smiled into the phone. "Yes, I'm very proud of you, Lois," he answered.

"Aww, thanks, Clark! Now hang up and call me later, I just remembered, I have to tell Chloe what I just told you. Bye--"

"Lois, WAIT!"

"What?"

As Lois waited in silence, Clark fidgeted in his seat on the couch. I can't believe I'm doing this he thought to himself. But he was so tired of lying to himself. He HAD to do this, even though it scared the heck out of him. And, well, he knew Lois would probably scream at him for even asking, but...He was willing to risk it. After taking a deep breath and letting it out, Clark plunged into new territory.

"Lois..." he slowly began.

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing Friday night?"

**THE END.**

No really, I'm not kidding this time,

**THE END.**


End file.
